A land filled with mosquitoes
Fred L. Soper, the Rockefeller foundation, and the Anopheles Gambiae Invasion of Brazil
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2151032 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Randall M Packard (Emory University, corresponding author), Paulo Gadehla (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz) |
| Year | 1997 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 215-238 |
| Publication date | 1997-05-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Medical Anthropology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0145-9740 • E-ISSN: 1545-5882 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01459740.1997.9966138 |
| PMID | 9311224 |
| OpenAlex | W2069672428 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 4 |
The success of Fred Soper and the Rockefeller Foundation's International Health Division in eradicating the anopheles gambiae mosquito from Northeast Brazil was a significant watershed in the history of malaria control. It revived faith in vector control strategies and paved the way for the application of eradication methods in the fight against malaria following World War II. Yet Soper's achievement needs to be re-examined from a wider analytical perspective that takes account of the longer epidemiological history of malaria in northeast Brazil and the wider social and economic context within which malaria occurred. This wider perspective suggests that the origins of the 1938/39 malaria epidemic were much more complex than Soper acknowledged. By focusing narrowly on the anopheles gambiae mosquito and its eradication. Soper failed to understand this broader context. This myopia, in turn, permitted Soper to make claims for both the scale of his achievement and its importance for the future of malaria control which were unjustified
Anopheles · Anopheles gambiae · Archaeology · Biology · Foundation (evidence · Geography · Malaria · African history and culture studies · History of Medicine and Tropical Health
| Citations per year | 0.29 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2002 - 2023 (22) |
| Highly cited | No |