- Authors: Havik PJ
- Publication Year: 2015
- Journal: Anais do Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical
- Link: http://ihmtweb.ihmt.unl.pt/PublicacoesFB/Anais/Anais2015/index.html#85/z%20
The present article focuses on the institutional aspects of the recent history of the IHMT, from the mid twentieth century to the present. In order to do so, it analyses its internal organization, research, training and intervention, as well as national and international relations during the colonial and the post-colonial periods. By associating internal and external changes, the essay intends to contextualize the scientific questions discussed in the other texts of this dossier and simultaneously fill a gap in the published literature. Beginning with the first National Congress on Tropical Medicine in 1952, the Institute’s history until 1974 is dominated by the Portuguese colonial context. A new phase is initiated with the fall of the New State, decolonization, and Portugal’s joining of the Tropical Diseases Research (TDR) programme of theWorld Health Organization (WHO).The frequent internal reorganizations of a scientific, financial and operational nature are analysed in the context of political changes, and alterations in ministerial supervision and of management models which had a significant impact on the Institute’s activities. The framing of the latter is also addressed against the background of the growing importance of international bilateral and multilateral cooperation with theWHO, the CEE/UE, and PALOP and CPLP countries.
