The Soviet Union, the WHO and Global Health, 1957-1991

This research excavates the little-understood roles played by the Soviet Union in global attempts to tackle four of the most dangerous infectious diseases during the second half of the Twentieth Century: smallpox, malaria, polio and HIV/AIDS. Drawing on new archival and interview evidence, the project will advance significantly our understanding of international attempts to meet these health challenges, providing new perspectives on how and why each produced the results that it did, and offering lessons on how to meet the health challenges of the present and those of years yet to come. The project will show how, from the late 1950s onwards, Soviet participation impacted on both the direction of WHO policy-making and on ground-level campaigns to fight disease, exploring both achievements and shortcomings, as well as potential paths that were ultimately not taken. It will also demonstrate key ways in which the geopolitical context of the Cold War impacted both positively and negatively upon global health efforts; explore the social history of efforts to tackle infectious disease, among both medical workers and patients; and highlight what can be learned today from the Soviet approach to topics like primary healthcare, vaccination, health education and medical surveillance.