HISTORY OF PUBLIC HEALTH IN

MEXICO
Public health depends on economic, political, social, cultural and ecological elements. In Mexico, the
focus of public health dates back to the 19th century during the war of independence. The current one
began the formation of a new Mexican state that tried to satisfy economic and social political needs. and
scientific. The political and social effervescence of that time accentuated the unhealthy conditions in
terms of hygiene, continuing the Spanish-influenced tradition of the ordinances or police and good
government orders, which were codes that regulated the living conditions of citizens, said police force.
and good government that he distinguished in 1825 for his humanitarian sense, his concepts of public
welfare and the value he gave to hygienic laws and education. The government of this period expressed
great interest in increasing its power in health matters, therefore it made health laws, established
factions and entered into open opposition with the church regarding the regulation of hospitals and
cemeteries, however the absence of effective plans for contingency, just as centralism continued to
favor epidemics and crisis situations continued to plague the population.

Between 1831 and 1833, Mexico overcame political stability, natural catastrophes and epidemics. In
1833 the medical university was temporarily suppressed, however, on October 23 of that same year,
vice president Valentín Gómez Farías created the medical sciences establishment. The first precedent
for the consolidation of medicine as a guild is the creation of the Academy of Medicine in 1836. During
the first half of the 19th century there were severe epidemics of influenza, yellow fever and malaria until
1831, medicine and those who practiced it were regulated by the court of protomedicato which was
replaced by the medical faculty of the federal district that functioned until 1841, year in which it was
replaced by the superior health council which deserves a special mention in the history of Mexican
health. On January 12, 1842, the date on which the creation of the Superior Health Council is confirmed,
which was established in Mexico City and January 4, 1841 and regulated on January 24, 1842, it was
made up of five members holders of which three were doctors, one a pharmacist and one a chemist.
Other bodies in charge of the health of the population in Mexico were the national school of medicine
and the academy of medicine also founded in 1842. According to Ismael, a doctor of the time, the higher
health council was not fully respected due to political instability, which did not allow us to know if the
country would be centralist or federalist. Among its functions, said council had to monitor the correct
practice of medicine and pharmacy, issue and register titles, ensure that only qualified professors taught
in the fields of medical science, carry out health actions for the good of the population. , carry out
hygiene studies, combat epidemics, compile mortality statistics up to legal medical opinions, promote
and monitor the application of vaccines, legislate the surveillance of cemeteries, schools and workshops,
form the health code and everything that concerns public health services. .

By 1848, Mexico's problems continued to be important and affected the health of the people; misery
was a partial cause of a cholera epidemic that ended in 1851. The church always had broad power in
Mexico and the principle of quality strongly rooted in Catholicism made the church accumulate and take
care of hospitals, take care of the poor and orphans and even regulate cemeteries and other matters
during the colony that now depend on the secretary. of health. In 1856, during the government of
President Benito Juárez, hospitals and orphanages came under government control, thus beginning the
government's obligation to provide health care services and they ceased to be a charity work of the
church, the transition was the creation in 1861 of the national council of public charities, which was
regulated by the government, but with an important participation of civil society and was in charge of
coordinating charities and hospitals to convert them into a public service that depended on the state.

Curiously, in the 1857 constitution no precepts related to health appear despite the fact that charters
have since sought to replace Christian charity with public assistance. Maximilian, who moved to Juárez
in 1864, created the maternity hospital during his empire, as well as an institute for the deaf and mute.
In 1867 Juárez returned to power and continued a struggle with the church, which is reflected in the
poor health service of the population. This partly causes private medicine to increase significantly and
the number of foundations to grow. In 1872, a new regulation of the Higher Health Council was issued
to which, in addition to the aforementioned powers, the formation of medical statistics and the
regulation and surveillance of prostitution were added.

In 1879, the Higher Security Council experimented with important changes, becoming autonomous,
which streamlined its activities since it only had to report to the Secretary of the Interior and not to the
agencies of each state. In that same year, the same medical and pharmaceutical standards were
formulated. nationals which meant an important action for public health care that tried to bring
together medical care and preventive medicine. That same year, an epidemiology commission was
created as a unit with specific tasks of surveillance, prevention and control of communicable diseases
with the section on venereal diseases, whose cases would be handled by the health inspection. All
registered doctors, as well as their assistants and practitioners, had the obligation to report any case of
typhus, typhoid, cholera, smallpox, scarlet fever, measles and any other illness that endangered public
health. In addition, mortality statistics were carried out, better control of hospitals, hospices, food,
drinking water, beverages in general and human waste was initiated, the purpose of combating and
eradicating endemic diseases such as malaria and yellow fever in the states was established. coastal
areas of both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the surveillance of cemeteries, schools and workshops is
also legislated. In 1880, the first Mexican publication on public health appeared, the bulletin of the
Superior Health Council of the Federal District, a dissemination body that persists to this day in which it
reported on progress in research into disease epidemics, as well as mortality statistics. and conditions
such as measles, diphtheria and whooping cough. The bulletin also reported on the activities that the
council carried out. In 1927 it became the bulletin of the public health department, in 1943 it gave rise
to health and assistance which since 1959 became the public health magazine of Mexico. That same
year of 1880, the doctor José Lobato published an article in the Mexican Medical Gazette in which he
related sociology and public health for the first time. Medical sociology refers to the psychological
analysis of the health system and social factors. that influence health, that same year another doctor
used the term preventive medicine which is said to be the relationship between the good health of a
people and the medical care received before contracting any disease.

In 1881, a regulation was created in the charity council whose main idea was the right to medical aid
and the duty of society to contribute to it, however, health services for populations far from the capital
were deficient due to the centralism that Juárez promoted. The care that the superior council took with
preventive measures to prevent the penetration of diseases from other countries resulted in the
creation of health stations in state jurisdictions, ports and borders, which were supported by the health
councils of each state, Rigid control of travelers and immigrants was established, especially if they came
from countries where there were infections due to endemic problems. In 1885 the scientific and social
function of the Superior Health Council was formalized when the doctor Eduardo Liceaga, as its
president, his work was very important for the development of Mexican public health, the council was
fully organized during his administration, then vaccines were announced, Epidemics were studied, the
city was cleaned, and the rabies vaccine was introduced. In 1888 the national medical institute was
founded. The regulatory task of the superior security council culminated on July 15, 1891 with the
promulgation of the first health code of the United Mexican States, which depends on the Ministry of
the Interior and which brought together in a single body precepts that cover everything related to
hygiene. , divided local and federal health administration and established rules and obligations. Its
purposes were to preserve health, prolong life and improve the physical condition of the human species.
That same year, 1891, the biological institute was founded and in 1895 the construction project for the
general hospital began, which opened its doors in 1905.

With the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, centralism was accentuated and public health as a state service
did not function regularly since decisions were made from the capital. On the other hand, in Mexico the
spectacular progress that histology had achieved abroad had already been assimilated. pathology in
bacteriology and physiology, this period was called laboratory medicine because the achievements
achieved in the scientific laboratory were applied in practical medicine.

In Mexico, the idea of national health, just as in Europe, as a consequence of the growth of cities,
demographic concentration and commercial communications, social security arose with industrialism
and the increase in city activity. In 1907 Mexico joined the Dresden sanitary convention and accepted
the commitment to support the international office of public hygiene in Paris. In 1910 Eduardo Liceaga
carried out a sanitary analysis of the Mexican Republic starting in 1810. A fairly complete questionnaire
was sent to each state of the country. Unfortunately, some states such as Veracruz, Campeche, Tlaxcala,
Oaxaca and Quintanaroo did not respond and this first analysis is already incomplete. . With Liceaga,
who was vice president of the American Public Health Association, Mexico's participation in
international health affairs began. With the outbreak of the Mexican revolution on November 20, 1910,
two demands arose: attention to the health of workers and the creation of laws that will regulate the
working conditions and safety of workers and their families, since 1906 the Flores brothers Magón had
defended the totally innovative conception of social security. During the first years of the revolutionary
regime, the state's actions in health matters were characterized by integrating efforts with society in
campaigns designed to eradicate certain diseases such as yellow fever or the injections in 1934 against
malaria and malaria. The war had profound health consequences such as epidemics, famines, diseases
caused by poverty and poor hygiene conditions, the ideal of preventive medicine that had been
achieved years before collapsed due to the disorganization and economic difficulties caused by The war
abruptly halted the scientific development in medical research that had been achieved in the last 20
years. With the triumph of the revolution and the promulgation of the 1917 constitution, the superior
health council was replaced by the department of public health, an autonomous regulatory and
executive body in matters of hygiene, which established that health care in Mexico can be federal, state
or municipal, was organized into services such as the health police, a port without borders, vaccines,
manias against alcoholism, measures against epidemics, contagious diseases, the preparation of
administration of vaccines and serums, the control of food, beverages and drugs, as well as Campaigns
against malaria, such as scarlet fever, diphtheria, syphilis, gonorrhea were promoted and technical
directorates were established such as the hygiene institute, the anti-rabies institute, the dispensaries for
tuberculosis and venereal and political patients, the health school, the health inspection. and the
Morelos hospital. A moralizing campaign was included in the fight against syphilis which was not very
successful as the number of brothel prostitutes increased due to the economic crisis caused by the
recent war.

COLLAGE