Cancer in Ceará: shaping a medical and social problem, 1940-1954.

Luiz Alves Araújo Neto,Luiz Antonio Teixeira

doi:10.1590/s0104-59702018000100011

Luiz Alves Araújo Neto, Luiz Antonio Teixeira

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/s0104-59702018000100011

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Abstract

This article addresses the shaping of cancer as a relevant medical and social problem in the Brazilian state of Ceará from 1940 to 1954. While this disease initially garnered little importance on the local medical and health agenda, and was considered a problem for philanthropy, a group of physicians and allies brought cancer to the public health agenda and led to the Campaign Against Cancer in 1954. This group's ability to unite internal and external allies with a broader reach portrayed cancer as a relevant medical and social problem in Ceará. We demonstrate this new portrayal in medical articles, institutional documents, biographies, newspapers, and other documents produced on and by the characters involved with anticancer activities in Ceará.

Highlights

This article addresses the shaping of cancer as a relevant medical and social problem in the Brazilian state of Ceará from 1940 to 1954
While this disease initially garnered little importance on the local medical and health agenda, and was considered a problem for philanthropy, a group of physicians and allies brought cancer to the public health agenda and led to the Campaign Against Cancer in 1954. This group’s ability to unite internal and external allies with a broader reach portrayed cancer as a relevant medical and social problem in Ceará. We demonstrate this new portrayal in medical articles, institutional documents, biographies, newspapers, and other documents produced on and by the characters involved with anticancer activities in Ceará
The highlights of the health agenda were rural endemics and some highly prevalent communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria, both of which received their own specific national services (Fonseca, 2007). An exception to this model was cancer, which at that time was considered a problem far from the Brazilian reality which represented a nebulous threat to the health of the population; later, this disease received its own specific national service because of the strong connections made by physicians involved with the control of this disease in the Federal District and in São Paulo (Teixeira, Fonseca, 2007)

Summary

Introduction

While this disease initially garnered little importance on the local medical and health agenda, and was considered a problem for philanthropy, a group of physicians and allies brought cancer to the public health agenda and led to the Campaign Against Cancer in 1954. The initiative to create an anti-cancer institute in Fortaleza took shape in other circles of the local elite, involving a small group of doctors interested in organizing actions to combat this disease in the state.

Results

Conclusion