Markus Thulin, Ricardo A. Ayala - Nursing, Policy and Politics in Twentieth-century Chile

This book offers the first in-depth account of healthcare policy in Chile across the twentieth century. It charts how nursing and nurses intersected with the political and social history of healthcare, with a particular focus on the country's transition from a welfare to neoliberal state during the 1970s and 1980s. Drawing on extensive archival research in Latin American repositories and interviews with nurses, physicians, midwives, social workers and governmental representatives, this book explores the role of the nursing profession in implementing and challenging reform, and the impact that changing policies had on nurses. It analyses nurses' employment situations; their mobility, with many elite nurses having been trained in the US; and their lobbying through the press and through unions. The authors demonstrate that while Chilean health policy was influenced by US cultural politics and its interference in industrialising countries, reform depended on the flexibility and willingness of the nursing profession to carry through reforms. By examining the Chilean case in depth, the book offers new insights into the privatisation of a society on the pinnacle of industrial development, and seeks to contribute to ongoing contemporary debate on Chile's current political crisis. Shedding light on the participation of the largest female group within the trained workforce, this book provides vital insights for scholars researching the history of public health.