Controlling Tuberculosis in East Africa, South India, and among American Indians, ca. 1930-ca. 1970

FAIN: FA-54558-09

Christian W. McMillen
University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA 22903-4833)

My book will be the first of its kind. Twentieth century historians are beginning to publish work on disease and public health in a global context. But the field is still undeveloped; similar histories of TB do not exist. I will use stories from around the world to write a narrative, accessible history. Each case offers a window onto wider themes like medical research on human subjects, globalization, humanitarianism, ethnocentrism, and medical imperialism. I explore broad and essential questions: how has the developed world responded to the problem of disease in the underdeveloped world? How has the response of the developing world shaped global health campaigns? Efforts at modernization through medicine were breathtaking in their ambition and audacity; they made up, according to one prominent figure in the fight, the "major social movement of our times."