Tragedies of Technocracies: Decolonization and the World Health Organization’s Malaria Pre-Eradication Campaign in Colonial Mozambique, c.1960–67

When the World Health Organization (WHO) was created in 1948, it was largely conceived as an apolitical organization where political issues were not to interfere with technical matters such as disease control. The organization’s technocratic stance and the introduction of technologies such as DDT, allowed it to consolidate its position as an international authority in public health matters. In 1955, the WHO launched a global Malaria Eradication Programme (MEP), which became one of the most ambitious feats of international cooperation attempted in the domain of public health. Yet, sub-Saharan Africa was excluded from this ostensibly global endeavour. As a result, the literature on malaria eradication has largely excluded sub-Saharan Africa because of the commonly held notion that eradication was never attempted in this region. However, in the early 1960s the WHO resolved to include sub-Saharan Africa by technically and financially supporting malaria pre-eradication campaigns throughout the region attesting to an attempt at eradication.

This paper recovers the history of the WHO’s malaria pre-eradication campaigns in sub-Saharan Africa by examining the case of Mozambique. Mozambique is of particular interest because it remained a Portuguese colony throughout the duration of the campaign. As such, Mozambique provides a window through which to explore the involvement of the WHO in a colonial state at the height of African decolonization. This paper shows how the WHO’s technocratic stance initially enabled it to launch a malaria pre-eradication campaign in Mozambique during a time when Portugal was increasingly criticized by the international community for maintaining its colonies. It also demonstrates how the process of African decolonization politicized this campaign. Decolonization increased the voting power of the WHO’s African member states enabling them to vote against the organization’s endorsement of Portuguese colonialism thereby bringing an end to the campaign and politicizing the WHO’s purportedly apolitical position.