The social determinants of Chagas disease and the transformations of Latin America

“It has been said that Chagas disease is a forgottendisease”, stated Dr JC Pinto Dias in the initial confer-ence of the seminar. “But, what really exists”, he added,“is a forgotten population”. It is not the disease that wasneglected, but rather the people who suffer it or who areat risk of contracting it who have been abandoned bygovernments and health policies. These words markedthe tone of the discussion on the current situation ofChagas disease, because the social determinants of thedisease were discussed throughout the entire workshop,since it was not possible to encompass them in one oranother topic, because when each one of the speakers orparticipants referred to the vectors, houses, blood trans-fusions, programs of control, at the same time people,poverty, migrations, companies, changes in governmentappeared. And it has to be so, because the process oftransmission of Chagas disease, as well as its preven-tion, control or treatment, are social and political pro-cesses that occur or change with the fluctuations of thecontemporary history of Latin America.