Dengue, Capitalism and the Environment

Dengue, Capitalism and the Environment

Nildo Viana *

In 1955 it was eliminated the last outbreak of Aedes aegypti in Brazil. In 1967, outbreaks of this gnat reappear in Pará and in 1973 is again considered eliminated. A new resurgence in Salvador (BA) in 1976 is accompanied by a continued expansion of focus from the end of the 70s and early 80s and in 1986 is discovered in Rio de Janeiro, the existence in Brazil, Aedes albopictus of which spreads across the country. Both are transmitters of dengue, which emerges forcefully across the country at the end of the 90s of the 20th century that allows the resurgence of dengue? The answer to this question brings us to the issue of the environment and quality of life in capitalist society and its transformations.

The explanation of this phenomenon calls for the elimination of simplistic analyzes, such as those who attribute the resurgence of dengue to the lack of a state policy of prevention and control. This analysis falls into two methodological errors that any researcher would fall: a) the explanation of a phenomenon by no occurrence of another phenomenon; b) the illusory isolation of the analyzed phenomenon. Just as one can not say that "a child fell from the crib because the father did not hold" because his fall was caused by his movement and his father's external action could avoid it but not provoke it, nor can say that the lack of prevention and produced the return state control dengue because it could avoid or minimize maximum but never produce this phenomenon. A phenomenon can never be explained by the non-occurrence of another, as if a phenomenon does not occur, it does not exist, and consequently can not produce anything. Moreover, this kind of explanation forgets the fundamental methodological principle which is the total, according to which one can not isolate a phenomenon leaving aside its relations with other phenomena and their multiple determinations. But in addition to methodological errors, there is another reason why the return of dengue can not be explained thanks to the lack of state policy of prevention and control as it does not also exist in previous years.

What explains this phenomenon then? Some features of dengue and mosquitoes can help answer. Dengue fever develops contemporaneously in large urban centers and in periods of greater heat and the Aedes aegypti has small "dispersal capacity", ie, travels a few meters, meaning that its passage from one country to another is accomplished via transport utensils for human beings. Some researchers emphasize the role of the "clap" of the planet as a cause of the spread of dengue. The clap of the planet, in turn, is a product of capitalist development model, based on the expanded reproduction of capital and consumerism, which generates environmental destruction on a large scale. This is reinforced by the very constitution of urban space, which is a high population density and social inequality, and the benefits of urban infrastructure (sanitation, etc.) are denied to the poorest social groups. Thus, the determination key, the most important is the capitalist development model and full-scale environmental destruction.

Adjacent to and associated with this determination we found several other contributing to the spread of dengue, including excess waste, provided by this same model development based on the production scale consumer goods increased, which generates in turn, an enlarged reproduction of waste, which benefits the said expansion. Another element is the neoliberal state policy from the 80s and 90s of the 20th century Michel Chossudovsky puts As in his book The Globalization of Poverty, "in sub-Saharan Africa several contagious diseases supposedly controlled reappeared, including cholera, Yellow fever and malaria. In Latin America the prevalence of malaria and dengue has increased dramatically since the mid-80s in terms of incidence of the parasite. The activities of prevention and control (directly submitted to a reduction in public spending imposed by the Structural Adjustment Programme) suffered appreciable restriction ".

Thus, we note the relationship between dengue, environment and capitalism. The capitalist development model deteriorates the quality of life through the process of environmental destruction and causes the clap of the planet, generating in turn, the process of re-emergence of dengue. At the same time, this same development model is an urban space founded on inequality and population concentration, creating sectors marked by poverty and misery, elements that contribute to the spread of dengue, as well as produces the expanded reproduction of consumer goods production and the consumer market, alongside the consumer culture and the increasing production of waste, another element that facilitates the expansion of dengue.

Thus, we have the capitalist development model as a producer of dengue resurgence due to environmental destruction and clap the planet derived from it, and we like the spread of dengue facilitators neoliberal state policy, the formation of an urban space based on the marginalization of of the urban population, the growth of poverty and hunger, increased production of consumer goods and all that derives from it (consumerism, high waste production, etc.).

Thus, it is necessary to rethink the development model to avoid the reappearance of contagious diseases or the appearance of new, as environmental degradation and deterioration of quality of life point to reflect on the reason for the development, because it would only have direction (rational) if facing the well-being and improving the quality of life and not for a production-dynamic that serves the interests of a minority, less affected with the current state of affairs.