Francisco Cambournac’s trajectory in the World Health Organization (1952-1964)

• Autor(a) principal: Lobo, Rita
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Monteiro, João Lourenço
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.25761/anaisihmt.88

Francisco Cambournac was a Portuguese malariologist and epidemiologist and a prominent figure on the international stage in the field of malaria and Tropical Medicine research, in the 20th Century. From this internationalization, the position Cambournac assumed in the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), namely as Diretor of the Regional African Office between 1954 and 1964, should be highlighted. Crossing Cambournac’s biography with the existing original documentation in the Historical and Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a reflection will be made on the scientific and political motivations and constraints mediating his experience within the W.H.O., thus making it possible to fill in an existing gap in the historiography of the Portuguese Tropical Medicine. This work is therefore intended to contribute to clarify some questions of great historiographical importance for Tropical Medicine during the study period. What were the motivations that led Cambournac to the W.H.O.? What criteria were at the origin of his choice? Which entities were involved in choosing Cambournac for the W.H.O.? What was the intervention of the Board of Diretors of the Institute of Tropical Medicine in this process?