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The Social Construction of Leprosy in Colombia, 1884-1939

Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota

Colombian physicians saw leprosy as an important area of inquiry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In order to convince the government of the need to wage a battle against the disease, physicians unfolded a rhetoric where nationalist considerations as well as exaggeration played a principal role. They accepted the conclusions adopted at international conferences on leprosy, and adopted segregation as the only way to prevent the spread of the disease. The racist image of leprosy as an extremely contagious disease inflicting inferior peoples, arose from the imperialist expansion of Europe and the United States in the late nineteenth century when Westerners discovered leprosy in their colonial territories. Between 1903 and the 1930s the Colombian government imposed several regulations ordering the isolation of the sick, and established special institutions for lepers. Around this time, isolation continued to be the main strategy to manage the disease, but medical rhetoric began to change. Doctors regarded leprosy as a curable disease and rejected compulsory isolation. The emphasis shifted to prevention and research. This new approach was connected with liberal ideas that were dominant at that time in Colombia.

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