Anthropology and medicine: health care in the Serviço de Proteção aos Índios, Brazil (1942-1956)

The article discusses how the actions of health care were planned by the Brazilian Serviço de Proteção aos Índios (SPI). The period analyzed covers the years from 1942, when the SPI Studies Section was founded, nowadays recognized as the beginning of important changes in this institution with the enhancement of social sciences in its administrative structure, to 1956, when the anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro left the direction of Studies Section. In this context, we analyze the plans for the SPI Medical and Sanitary Service, which suggest a link between medical and anthropological knowledge in promoting sanitation improvements to indigenous groups.