Epidemic Archives: Medical Institutions

President Lázaro Cárdenas specified the necessary measures to deal with tuberculosis through the construction of the Huipulco Sanatorium for Tuberculosis Patients. The design was in charge of the Architect José Villagrán and its construction was planned in a place very far far from the city in order to avoid the spread of the disease in the population. In this way, it was decided to erect it on an extensive land located between the plains of the then town of San Lorenzo Huipulco in the current Mayor's Office of Tlalpan. Its inauguration was at the beginning of the year 1936. In this medical pavilion the first generations of tisiologists of the country were trained under the direction of the medical masters of that time, giving rise to the most important area of ​​specialized hospitals south of the City of Mexico. 

The streets of Pino Suárez and República del Salvador in the heart of the Historic Center of Mexico City was the place where Hernán Cortés and Moctezuma II met for the first time in 1519. It is there where, by orders of the conqueror, a hospital was built to attend to the Spanish soldiers wounded during the fight against the Mexica people. At that time, it was called Hospital de la Purísima Concepción y Jesús Nazareno (also Hospital de Jesús Nazareno or simply Hospital de Jesús). The hospital is the oldest on the continent and one of the oldest buildings in the city, it began operations in 1524. Pedro Vázquez was responsible for the design of the building, a hospital that Hernán Cortés could never see finished, as he died in 1547 before its culmination. For approximately 130 years, the most renowned architects and engineers of New Spain participated in the project. The building today continues its function as a hospital. The church and hospital remained intact until 1934 when, due to the expansion of Avenida 20 de Noviembre, the hospital's board of trustees erected a  five-story building, the work of the architect José Villagrán, who ended up devouring the colonial construction, although they were preserved the original patios of the hospital. 

The Women's Section of the Israelite Central Committee of Mexico, founded in 1941, dedicated itself to charitable work, not only within the Jewish community, but also in Mexican society, forming part of the International Section of the  Cruz Roja Mexicana. 

"They kept as a focal point the reinforcement of integration into Mexico and social assistance to both Jews and Mexicans, which was increasingly done through fund-raising, dinners, toasts and fashion shows." 

Guillermo Kahlo photographed the old building of the Ministry of Health and Assistance during its construction stage in 1928. This work was projected and built by the architect Carlos Obregón Santacilia between 1926 and 1929. The design of the spaces of the Ministry of Health  responded to the needs of the time by proposing specialized architectural programs for administration, research and medical practice. This building, an emblem of public health institutions, located in the Juárez neighborhood of Mexico City, was declared an artistic  monument  on April 2, 1993.   

The Papaloapan Commission was a public body created by the Secretariat of Hydraulic Resources, one of the institutions that preceded CONAGUA, which from 1947 to 1986 carried out studies and projects, hydraulic works against floods. One of the objectives was to reverse the health lag in indigenous communities of the basin by implementing campaigns to eradicate endemic diseases such as malaria or malaria, intestinal parasites, water-borne diseases and onchocerciasis, in addition to vaccination campaigns against diphtheria. whooping cough and tetanus.  

Mexico has issued various stamps related to public health issues, including those related to malaria, polio, HIV (AIDS) and tuberculosis, to name just a few. Likewise, as many commemorative events have been issued for the creation of health centers.  

Campaign Against Malaria, 1939. 

World Campaign Against Polio, UN –UPU, 1984. 

World health day, 1987. 

World health day, childhood immunization, 1988. 

World Health Day, World AIDS Day, 1989. 

100 years of the Mexican Red Cross, 2010. 

75th Anniversary of the Ministry of Health, 2018.