Pox and Proximities

Abstract

Abstract This article conceptualizes Iraq's medical diplomatic missions as inter-Asian linkages that rested on solidarity movements, professional networks, and the commitments of medical experts. It traces the machinations of Iraq's medical diplomacy, specifically the agendas and processes of advancing health care as humanitarian aid at a time when social unrest and outbreaks of infectious diseases led to mass inoculation and biosurveillance programs supported by regional and international medical missions. The emergence of semi-trained inoculators coupled with efforts to expand medical education faculties prompted the increase of medical labor production for both domestic and diplomatic purposes. Iraq's Cold War medical diplomacy was prismatic, multilateral and multidirectional. The dispensation and reception of biological protection, scientific technologies, and medical labor transformed Iraq into a site of biomedical knowledge production.