HIstory of CAre in the MAghreb. Infectious diseases, healthcare infrastructures and international aid (1956-1999)

The HICAMA project explores the development of healthcare in the Maghreb region by examining the historical interactions among national sanitary institutions, civic experiences of health outreach, and international institutions involved in global health preservation. The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated the strategic importance of studying infectious diseases in a variety of contexts and from multiple angles. Focusing on containment and eradication programs against infectious diseases promoted over the second half of the twentieth century, HICAMA examines the efforts made by Maghreb independent countries against the spread of diseases with both a respiratory and a sexually transmitted nature. The project conceptualizes the fight against infectious diseases as a first and yet enduring test for healthcare systems' viability in the region. HICAMA adopts a multilayered perspective to assess local, national, and international implications of the phenomenon: it takes into account Algerian, Moroccan, and Tunisian sanitary endeavors against infectious diseases, the role of international donors (WHO, World Bank, USAID) in directing Maghrebi healthcare politics, and considers the local and gendered practices of care implemented by associations active for decades to promote outreach programs. Drawing on archival sources, official and press sources, and interviews, the project employs a novel methodology that combines archival research, oral history, institutional and gender analysis. By recasting the healthcare as a prism through which nation-building, international relations, and local activism can be reassessed - a methodology reproducible also in other contexts - HICAMA aims to have a major impact on the history of the modern Maghreb. Ultimately, HICAMA includes research, communication and dissemination activities in the Maghreb, Europe, and the United States that will enhance the Fellow's research skills and her global approach in studying the history of the MENA region.