ABSTRACT
Malaria has been endemic in Brazil for the past three centuries. Early in the twentieth century, control activities were instituted to accommodate the classical urban demographic growth caused by the industrial revolution. Investment was concentrated on reducing mosquito breeding sites in and around human settlements and on distributing cinchona (bark extract) to feverish people. In the mid-twentieth century, to support the expansion of agricultural production, a national program was launched to eradicate malaria transmission from the population in rural as well as isolated areas. These activities took advantage of the newly available DDT as an indoor insecticide and synthetic chloroquine for effective treatment.
