The black scourge? Race and the Rockefeller Foundation’s tuberculosis commission in interwar Jamaica

Abstract

From 1927 to 1942, the Rockefeller Foundation ran a tuberculosis commission in Jamaica that researched the epidemiology of the disease, examined the efficacy of a vaccine with heat-killed tubercle bacilli, and offered basic treatment to tuberculosis sufferers. Drawing upon diaries and scientific writings by the staff employed by the commission, among other sources, this article explores the role that race played in the tuberculosis commission. It assesses how race shaped the research conducted by the commission, how it informed staff interactions and staff/ patient relations, and the clash and/or confluence of "imported" and local racial ideas in the commission's work.

The Colonial Legacy and the Jamaican Healthcare System

“…Beginning in 1918, the Rockefeller International Health Commission incorporated Jamaica into its network of studies on tropical illnesses such as hookworm infestations, tuberculosis, malaria and yaws, among others. The direct policy implications of the Rockefeller intervention manifested in the 1927 establishment of a national health education bureau geared towards providing rudimentary primary health services, particularly clinics for venereal and communicable diseases (Altink 2018).…”