Comrades in Health: U.S. Health Internationalist, Abroad and at Home

Abstract

Comrades in Health: U.S. Health Internationalist, Abroad and at Home Edited by Anne-Emanuell Birn and Theodore M. Brown (Rutgers, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2013) (350 pages; $85.00 cloth, $29.95 paper)Comrades in Health: U.S. Health Internationalist, Abroad and at Home describes the generations of leftist health professionals who crossed international borders, driven by political ideals and humanitarian impulse. Their aim was twofold: to deliver health care services and to engage in political activism. This fusion of social medicine and proletarian internationalism created the philosophical and political agendas that became known as "health internationalism." Editors Anne-Emanuell Birn and Theodore M. Brown invite the readers on a captivating journey through the political, economic, and social turmoil that embroiled global health care during the 20th century. The critical contributions by health internationalists, historically marginalized for their political views and often unacknowledged, are outlined with depth, sensitivity to context, and obvious relativism to contemporary health care discourse. This collection of essays, autobiographical when possible, traces the birth, development, trials, and tribulations of these unsung heroes. The book is more than a historical account; it is a critique and a calling to providers, public health officials, teachers, students, economists, policymakers, and philanthropists to consider thoughtfully the historical and contemporary approaches to global health inequality within a broader political and social context.Upholding the philosophy that social, economic, and political structures are the driving forces of health disparities did not always serve health internationalists well in reputation or profession upon their return to the United States. Part II of the book begins with an account of John Kingsbury's advocacy for socialist medicine in the Soviet Union. Author Susan Solomon, using various primary source data now available, depicts the cost of his leftist political leaning, culminating in a career that suffered greatly. Similarly, the life and career of Henry Sigerist, among other physicians, whose interest in Soviet Red Medicine led to years of discrimination and investigation in the grip of Medical McCarthyism, is documented. Part II also documents American medical support for Spanish democracy, 1936-1938. Often, these experiences abroad stirred bitter resentment toward U.S. foreign policy. In Spain, health internationalists waged war against Fascism, supporting the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil War. Proceeding in spite of opposition from economic and political leaders, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt, many lost their lives in Spain; those who returned faced discrimination and suspicion, subjected to scrutiny by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.Part III contains Jack Geiger's autobiographical account that invites the readers to witness the birth of the first community health center in Pholela, a tribal reserve in rural South Africa, and its later replication in the Mississippi Delta, under the title of "Contesting Racism and Innovating Community Health Centers. …