Infrastructure-building for public health

Abstract

This dissertation examines the process of infrastructure-building for public health in South Korea following liberation from colonial rule with a focus on the national tuberculosis control policy. Tuberculosis was a widely prevalent disease that posed a heavy burden on both the population and the economy, and the 1962 national program, implemented through the nation-wide network of public health centers by the Park Chung Hee administration, is commonly considered as the watershed that turned the tide against the disease. This dissertation historically investigates how the infrastructure—not only the physical, but also the administrative, organizational, operational, and technical—for the tuberculosis program was designed and implemented, by whom, and more importantly, why. It argues that the emergence of tuberculosis as a controllable disease and a matter of public health was not driven merely by domestic factors but was closely tied to both the international political and technical developments. Moreover, this dissertation highlights the legacies of Korea’s postcolonial experience—the US military occupation, the Korean War, and the period of nation- building against the backdrop of the Cold War—in building the administrative and physical infrastructure for public health. In covering this period, this dissertation emphasizes the role of WHO and its long-term advocacy for strengthening the public health infrastructure in South Korea. WHO provided close technical assistance for the tuberculosis program, and developed a close partnership with not just the government but also KNTA, a key domestic actor that rose to influence in the postcolonial period. By demonstrating that the infrastructure for South Korea’s tuberculosis program had been built atop relationships established over decades under specific postcolonial contexts, this dissertation also contributes to the field of global health as a case study in WHO’s global initiatives in its early years and its long-term impact, and to the field of development studies by highlighting the role of non-governmental, voluntary groups, as key contributors to multilateral initiatives.