Cecília Menezes

Brazilian public health pioneer who eradicated yellow fever in Northeast Brazil

Cecília Menezes (1910-1975) was a Brazilian physician and epidemiologist whose groundbreaking work in public health nearly eradicated yellow fever from Brazil. Born in Recife to a family of modest means, she became one of Brazil's first female medical graduates from the University of Pernambuco in 1932. Her early career focused on tropical diseases, particularly the devastating yellow fever epidemics that ravaged the Northeast region.

In 1943, Menezes launched the Yellow Fever Eradication Campaign, combining vaccination drives with innovative mosquito control strategies. She pioneered the use of aerial larvicide spraying and community health worker networks, vaccinating over 1.2 million people in 18 months. Her 1950s research on urban yellow fever transmission patterns became the basis for global WHO guidelines.

Menezes' most notable achievement was the 1962 creation of the Sistema de Vigilância Epidemiológica (Epidemiological Surveillance System), which integrated data collection, rapid response teams, and public education. This system reduced yellow fever mortality by 98% in Brazil by 1970. Her textbook Public Health in Tropical Regions (1965) remains a standard reference. Despite her scientific contributions, Menezes faced significant professional barriers as a woman in a male-dominated field, but her perseverance established lasting public health frameworks still in use today.