Abstract
In the early decades of the twentieth century, when health started becoming an issue on the political agenda, Arthur Neiva and Belisário Penna travelled to the sertão semi-arid region of Goiás state, Brazil, to diagnose the population’s state of health, particularly highlighting the spread of Chagas disease and the decadence of the sertão. The political elite in the state reacted to the sanitarians’ findings. This article observes the controversy played out in the pages of A Informação Goiana magazine. The publication supported the region’s interests, because its leaders were sure that it was down to the people of Goiás to reveal the truth about the sertão, its people, and its potentialities.
sertão; rural sanitation; regional identity; A Informação Goiana