在医学与政治之间——中国根除天花的国际认证

Between Medicine and Politics:International Certification of China's Smallpox Eradication

天花是人类迄今唯一消灭的疾病。中国早在20世纪60年代初已彻底根除天花,却直到1979年底才获得世界卫生组织的认证,是全球最后被确认消灭天花的两个国家之一,整个认证过程一波三折、反复磋商,认证标准最为严格。文章利用世界卫生组织的相关档案和国内有关专家的口述访谈,分析了根除天花的认证标准被协商和建构的过程,还原了中国天花根除认证的历史。研究表明,中国根除天花的认证绝不仅仅是一项恪守科学原则的技术性工作,还受到社会、政治、文化等各种因素的复杂影响,也受到中国和世界卫生组织相互之间身份认同的制约。它涉及科学家、国家政府与国际组织等不同行为体之间的多维互动,也彰显了科学标准与政治价值之间的相互建构与塑造。

As is well known,smallpox is the only disease to have been eradicated successfully to date.China had eradicated smallpox by the early 1960s,but official certification was received from the World Health Organization(WHO)only at the end of 1979,along with Cambodia.These were the last two certified countries.The whole process of certification went through a series of ups and downs and repeated negotiations,during which the most rigid and strict certification standards and procedures were applied.Using WHO archives and oral histories,we analyze how the certification standards were negotiated and constructed,and provide a history of the process of certification.It is noted that it should not be taken for granted that certification was merely a technical project adhering to scientific principles.It was inevitably affected by social,political and cultural factors,and framed by the mutual identities of China and the WHO.It involved interactions of various actors,including scientists,government and international organizations,and illustrated modes of construction and negotiation between science and politics.