This article investigates how World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Halfdan Mahler’s views on health care were formed by his experience in India between 1951 and 1961. Mahler spent a large part of the 1950s in India assigned as WHO medical officer to tuberculosis control projects. It argues that Mahler took inspiration from the official endorsement of the doctrine of social medicine that prevailed in India; even if it was challenged by an increasing preference for vertical, techno-centric campaigns. It shows how, from the outset, Mahler was remarkably hostile towards the highly skilled, clinically oriented doctors, but embraced prevalent ideas of community participation. It suggests that Mahler – although he remained silent on the issue – was impressed by the importance and resilience of indigenous traditions of medicine, despite hostility from leading political figures. In this way, the article attempts to establish links to Mahler’s advocacy of primary health care in the 1970s. A broad approach to health, scepticism toward clinically oriented doctors, preference for simple technologies and community participation, as well as an accommodating attitude towards indigenous practitioners, were all features of primary health care, which correlate well with views developed by Mahler as he negotiated social medicine in India between 1951 and 1961.

中文翻译：

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后殖民背景下的社会医学谈判：哈夫丹·马勒在印度 1951-61

本文调查了世界卫生组织 (WHO) 总干事哈夫丹·马勒 (Halfdan Mahler) 在 1951 年至 1961 年间在印度的经历如何形成了他对医疗保健的看法。马勒在 20 世纪 50 年代的大部分时间都在印度度过，被指派担任世界卫生组织医疗官员，负责结核病控制项目。它认为马勒的灵感来自于印度盛行的社会医学学说的官方认可；即使它受到越来越多地偏爱垂直、以技术为中心的活动的挑战。它表明，马勒从一开始就对高技能、以临床为导向的医生抱有明显的敌意，但却接受社区参与的流行观念。这表明马勒——尽管他在这个问题上保持沉默——对本土医学传统的重要性和复原力印象深刻，尽管来自主要政治人物的敌意。通过这种方式，文章试图与马勒在 20 世纪 70 年代倡导的初级卫生保健建立联系。对健康的广泛态度、对以临床为导向的医生的怀疑态度、对简单技术和社区参与的偏好以及对土著从业者的包容态度，都是初级卫生保健的特征，这与马勒在与社会谈判时所形成的观点密切相关。 1951年至1961年间印度医学。