“Health versus Economy”: the Recurrence of a False Dilemma in Times of Crisis. The Case of the 1991 Cholera Epidemic in Peru

Abstract

This article examines the 1991 cholera epidemic in Peru through the lens of a discursive construction of the so-called health-versus-economy dilemma. It contends that government officials and certain political sectors shaped this narrative of public health protection as a menace and incompatible with economic development in times of epidemics to shift attention away from structural responsibilities and legitimize the privileges of certain economic sectors. On the other hand, the poor urban household were charged with the responsibilities of assuming the costPublic healths of the epidemic. In doing so, the study positions the cholera epidemic as a key case for understanding how this discursive shift was produced and how it was able to function in an epidemic crisis.