Securitization of dengue fever outbreak in Bolivia

• In Event: 2261 - Current Issues in Health Policy

Abstract

Dengue fever is a common disease in Bolivia, however, in 2009, it was clear that the Bolivian public health system lack of human and economic resources to face such epidemic. Soon, a massive panic started among capital cities. The dengue fever outbreak was reported for the first time in Pando, one of the less populated Bolivian departments, but soon it affected the whole country and put in danger neighboring nations.
The media was an important actor during the outbreak, they reported when the dengue fever started and when it ended, but most important: they contribute to securitize the disease. The media developed a discourse about the dengue fever, its causes, consequences, and what Bolivian Government did to fight against the problem. Therefore, there was a narrative that we can disentangle through the following question: which were the elements of the human security discourse that media shaped in 2009, during the dengue fever outbreak in Bolivia?
To answer this question, in this paper I will discuss how two Bolivian newspapers framed the securitization discourse during the outbreak. I argue that the role of securitizing actor changed during the time that epidemic reached its peak. I also mention that the referent object had a central role in their securitization process. Finally, I will sketch the discourse of the securitization process where I suggest the topics that were raised: a narrative of fear, migrants and poor people as suspect communities, and the dengue fever as a war that must be battled.

Author

• Mario Siddhartha Portugal-Ramirez, The University of Massachusetss Boston