The Public Health Council, an immanence of the 1820 Revolution

Abstract

The bicentennial anniversary of the 1820 Revolution takes place at the time of the greatest pandemic known to humankind after the  black plague, smallpox, cholera or Spanish influenza and has placed under the spotlight the Direção-Geral da Saúde (DGS). Using Royal Legislation and Parliamentary Debates during the period of the Constitutional Monarchy, we aim to revisit this historical  moment in order to understand the genealogy of the DGS in its several forms since the 1820 Revolution up to the implementation of the Republic, focusing on the creation of the Council for Public Health (Conselho de Saúde Pública) designed by Passos Manuel in 1836. Among other public health issues, the fear of contamination by infectious diseases was the pretext and the main force behind the organizational changes in health administration. During this period, biopower became leader, a new form of power on our  bodies resulting from the new hygienist paradigm.