Immigration and Italian physicians in São Paulo during the First Republic

Abstract

The European immigration to the southeastern region of Brazil due to the necessity of labor in the coffee plantations in the last decades of the 19th century and beginning of the 20 is a well-kown topic of study. But what still remains to be explored is the relation between immigration and the sanitary reform that took place at the time. The state of São Paulo has a very sad story of Italian immigrants exposed to the virulance of the transmissible diseases. This caotic situation was the beginning of a movement for the health reform. The farmers considered immigration a vital input to the coffee economy and there was a strong commitment of the urban elites and the national government to show the world that Brazil wanted to erase its bad public health reputation. Reformists and their actions elected the European Immigrant as the first target for health improvement. This paper presents some data related to such actions and analyses the way foreign countries – particularly Italy – sent medical and other missions to evaluate and improve the health conditions of their countrymen, workers in the rural and urban areas in Brazil. A phenomenon related to the efforts of the health inspectors was the consolidation of a fairly large “Italian” medical profession and the opening of “Italian” hospitals in São Paulo and other parts in Brazil. These two aspects of the beginning of the public health movement in Brazil – the impact of immigration and the setting up of the medical profession - are the main focus of analysis inthis paper.