Social Medicine in Rural Zones: A History of the Fight against Yaws in Antioquia, 1918-1941

Abstract

Objective: This article analyzes the emergence of social medicine in Colombian departmental divisions, health transformations, and the implementation of complex structures of care such as health units and commissions of rural hygiene, through the study of the campaign against yaws in the Antioquia at the beginning of the 20th century. Methodology: We make an exhaustive analysis of medical theses and official reports of the Department of Antioquia. This documentation was consulted at the Archivo Histórico de Antioquia, the Sala Patrimonial Historia de la Medicina de la Universidad de Antioquia, and the Hemeroteca Nacional de Colombia. Originality: Yaws is a contagious disease that spread throughout rural and marginalized areas of Antioquia during the first half of the 20thcentury. Despite the departmental and national magnitude that it took, Colombian historiography has not addressed its study. Conclusions: We find that the development of health campaigns in Antioquia was a strategy to transfer urban medical advances to the department’s rural areas and that these projects faced problems such as budget restrictions, access to the territory, and the lack of medical personnel.