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During the Liberal hegemony in Colombia (1930-1946), the country underwent a major modernization. Enrique Olaya Herrera, Alfonso López Pumarejo and Eduardo Santos were the presidents during that period.
Historian Natalia Botero-Tovar, researcher at Universidad de los Andes, Colombia, argues that public health programs did not reach their audience due to local clientelism and political corruption. Sources of this article come mainly from Colombia’s Ministry of Education reports and cultural magazines. The education sector was also committed to health tasks and developed assessments of local needs which contributed to programs of public health.
In Colombia, poverty and illiteracy were indelibly linked to local corruption in municipalities, which jeopardized the implementation of state-driven rural hygiene education programs. Doctors and state officials, from governments of the Liberal Republic examined herein, developed material intended for hygiene education, agricultural development, disease prevention and health care, among others.
However, this material represented a political ideology that clashed with local ruling powers. During the 1930’s, handbooks, magazines, radio, and even cinema equipment were highly politicized objects that failed to reach the target population by the means of a state-driven program. Thus, in studying the history of public health in Colombia, more attention should be directed towards how political corruption, embezzled resources and clientelism affected state-orchestrated public health programs.
This research aimed to contribute to the historiography of public health in Colombia exploring additional but critical obstacles, experienced by Liberal reformers, to the expansion of modern public health services in the country. Tracing these local political barriers could be challenging but very rewarding, as they are key to examine the denominated ‘first wave’ of Latin American social medicine, which was looking for the integration of nations.
Historian Hanni Jalil raised important questions and evidence to the history of public Health and social medicine in Colombia. This research resonates with findings highlighted in her article “’A Sick, Weak, and Ignorant People’: Public Health Education and Prevention in Rural Colombia, 1930-1940”.
Despite stereotypical misconceptions of the poor, and medical recommendations that did not match the reality of life in rural areas of the country, barriers in the implementation of public health policies can add up to the background of medical endeavours in the countryside during the 1930s.
Eric Carter described a ‘first wave’ of Latin American social medicine in the article “Social medicine and international expert networks in Latin America, 1930–1945”. This research adds evidence of a time frame that reveals a rich history of rural hygiene education in Colombia.
CARTER, Eric. Social medicine and international expert networks in Latin America, 1930–1945. Global Public Health, v. 14, no. 6-7, p.791-802. 2018. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17441692.2017.1418902
JALIL, Hanni. ’A Sick, Weak, and Ignorant People’: Public Health Education and Prevention in Rural Colombia, 1930-1940. Bulletin of Latin American Research. 2017. Available: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/blar.12739. Accessed Aug 30 2019.
Read more about Colombia in HCS-Manguinhos:
Las narrativas oficiales de la crisis colombiana “¿Qué está pasando en Colombia? ¿Por qué llevamos cerca de un mes de protestas sociales masivas, bloqueos en las carreteras, represión brutal por parte de la fuerza pública y una escalada de violencia urbana?” En este ensayo el profesor de la Universidad del Rosario Stefan Pohl reflexiona sobre las causas de la crisis actual en Colombia detonada por un proyecto de reforma tributaria propuesto por el gobierno nacional el mes pasado.
Las locuras puerperales en Argentina y Colombia, 1880-1950 “Difícil es pensar este trastorno sin la histeria como discurso dominante,” dicen los autores Emilio Vaschetto y Jairo Gutiérrez.
Colombia y la instrumentalización de la pandemia de COVID-19 Los investigadores Jorge Márquez Valderrama y Cristian Camilo Rojas Obando de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia analizan las concepciones positivas y negativas de la instrumentalización de la epidemia en las esferas empresarial, educativa y política.
Los homeópatas y sus luchas en Colombia Artículo de Jorge Márquez Valderrama y Victoria Estrada Orrego analiza la práctica y el estatuto profesional de los homeópatas a inicios del siglo 20.
Tuberculosis y mundo laboral en Colombia, 1916-1946 El artículo examina la tuberculosis como enfermedad profesional y los usos de estadísticas en discursos oficiales.
Historia oral de los enfermos de Hansen en Colombia Este artículo resalta la resignificación del concepto de enfermedad a partir de las vivencias de los enfermos.
El hospital San Juan de Dios: la crisis de la salud en Colombia El artículo expone los 15 años de lucha (1999-2014) de un grupo de mujeres por la reactivación del hospital.
Psy cultures in Colombia It argues that Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis occupy today a relatively marginal position in the context of psy knowledge in Colombia.
El caso de la malaria en Colombia El artículo muestra el proceso que condujo a la medicina colombiana al descubrimiento y aceptación de las causas de la enfermedad.
Médicos, prostitución y enfermedades venéreas en Colombia (1886-1951) La lucha contra las enfermedades venéreas estuvo íntimamente ligada a la cuestión de la prostitución que aumentaba con la urbanización del país.
El control natal en Colombia, 1960 y 1970 El artículo presenta el contexto social del control neonatal en Colombia y la llegada de los programas de planificación norteamericanos.
Convocatoria: Anuario Colombiano de Historia Social y de la Cultura La revista convoca a la comunidad académica a participar en el dossier Higiene, Cuerpo y Enfermidad.
The anti-leprosy campaign in Colombia, 1920-1940 The article discusses the replacement of the segregation approach by a more general public health strategy.
La pandemia de gripa en Colombia, 1918-1919 El artículo discute el impacto epidemiológico y social de la pandemia de gripa de 1918 para identificar factores de riesgo y protectores que puedan contribuir al control preventivo de futuras pandemias.
Our new edition is out! This edition includes social medicine in Colombia between 1930 ad 1946, primary health care in the twilight of the Brazilian dictatorship, health and war in Mexico and the historical parallels between the current Coronavirus crisis and the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic.
