The role of the World Health Organization country programs in the development of virology in Spain, 1951-1975.

María Isabel Porras,María José Báguena

doi:10.1590/s0104-59702020000300010

María Isabel Porras, María José Báguena

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/s0104-59702020000300010

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Abstract

Within the framework of recent historiography about the role of the World Health Organization (WHO) in modernizing public health and the multifaceted concept of global health, this study addresses the impact of the WHO's "country programs" in Spain from the time it was admitted to this organization in 1951 to 1975. This research adopts a transnational historical perspective and emphasizes attention to the circulation of health knowledge, practices, and people, and focuses on the Spain-0001 and Spain-0025programs, their role in the development of virology in Spain, and the transformation of public health. Sources include historical archives (WHO, the Spanish National Health School), various WHO publications, the contemporary medical press, and a selection of the Spanish general press.

Highlights

En el marco de la reciente historiografía sobre el papel de la OMS (Organización Mundial de la Salud) en la modernización de la salud pública y el concepto multifacético de salud global, se estudia el papel de los llamados “programas país” de la OMS en España desde su admisión en 1951 hasta 1975
The history of this international agency and the role it has played has been studied by its own members (OMS, 1958; World Health Organization (WHO), 1968; Hussein, 1998a, 1998b; Litsios, 2009, 2012), as well as historians of medicine and public health (Brown, Cueto, Fee, 2006; Brown, Cueto, 2011; Cueto, Brown, Fee, 2019), sociologists and political scientists (Haas, 1992; Barnett, Finnemore, 1999; Jasanoff, 2004) and an interdisciplinary group (Sturdy, Freeman, SmithMerry, 2013)
Studying this agency’s efforts to reform mental health policy across Europe, Sturdy, Freeman, and Smith-Merry (2013, p.1) showed its role in creating opportunities to share knowledge and best practice and create autonomous epistemic communities. Considering these contributions and the lack of studies on the role played by the WHO in developing public health in specific European nations, our main aim here is to investigate the role played by the WHO’s “country programs” in Spain1 in virology from the country’s admission to the WHO in 1951 until 1975

Summary

Introduction

En el marco de la reciente historiografía sobre el papel de la OMS (Organización Mundial de la Salud) en la modernización de la salud pública y el concepto multifacético de salud global, se estudia el papel de los llamados “programas país” de la OMS en España desde su admisión en 1951 hasta 1975.

Results

Conclusion