Cancer control in Brazil in the first half of the twentieth century

This discussion of public efforts to control cancer in Brazil from the 1920s to the close of the 1940s. Examines the process that led to creation of the Inspectorship for the Prevention of Leprosy and Venereal Diseases within the National Department of Public Health. The establishment of this agency was Brazil's first public action targeting cancer and, while not far-reaching, it enables us to understand the professional field of cancer at that time. The article also points to the role played by electrosurgery, whose diffusion fueled medical interest in cancer and thus contributed to the founding of the Cancerology Center in the Federal District. An exploration of the founding of the National Cancer Service and its first decade of activities endeavors to draw a link between the Service's early profile and the issues that guided its history.