Mexico

Prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1519, the area of modern-day Mexico was occupied by the Aztecs and other peoples, who had established a highly developed sense of healthcare. Although most of their medical works were lost, some medical tracts from the Aztec period survive, indicating great advances they had achieved. Indeed the Conquistadors were so interested in the medical treatments of the Aztecs that King Philip II of Spain in 1570 was encouraged to send his doctor Francisco Hernandex to Mexico for seven years to record much of the information that might otherwise have been lost.

The arrival of the Spanish changed the whole healthcare system in the country. While most Indians continued to use herbal remedies, many succumbed to newly-introduced European diseases such as smallpox, cholera, typhoid, measles and influenza. The Spanish and other Europeans also suffered from new medical conditions such as venereal diseases and also from bites from poisonous snakes.

The healthcare system established by the Spanish was solely aimed at the Europeans, with the majority of Mexicans unable to access it. It was also largely located in major cities such as Mexico City and Vera Cruz. This did not stop epidemics such as that of smallpox in 1797 or Asiatic cholera in 1833.

Mexican independence was declared in 1810, and was recognized eleven years later, after which there was a series of wars which saw the United States take much territory from Mexico. Constant wars followed, with Emperor Maximilian ruling the country for three years, and then there were many presidents, some of whom had popular support. The Mexican Revolution of 1910 changed the political landscape, but instability still afflicted Mexico until the 1930s.

After independence in 1810, there were attempts to improve the healthcare system of the country, with the Mexican National Academy of Medicine established in 1864. During the presidency of Benito Juarez (1867–1872), there were attempts to provide healthcare to more of the native Indian population of the country.

Budgetary problems and fighting often prevented this, with great investment in the health services after the 1910 Mexican Revolution. Venustiano Carranza Garza, president of Mexico from 1914–1920, had been governor of Cohuila where he had improved many of the health facilities for the poor. He tried to do the same as president, but failed to introduce the much-needed reforms. Some of his successors also tried, and failed, in the same endeavor.

The Mexican Association of Women Doctors was founded 1923, and the Franco-Mexican Medical Association, founded in 1928, with the Mexican Pediatrics Society, founded in 1930, the Mexican Society of Eugenics, founded in 1931, and the Mexican Academy of Surgery was established in 1933. In 1944, the Mexican Public Health Society was, founded, with many other associations founded over the next three decades: the Mexican National Cancer Institute (1946), the Mexican Association of Faculties and Schools of Medicine (1957), the Mexican Society of Nutrition and Endocrinology (1960), the Mexican Society of Parasitology (1960), the Mexican Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (1961), the Mexican Society of Cardiology (1964) and the Mexican Council of Dermatology (1974). The Republic of Mexico has a population of 107,784,000 (2006), with 186 doctors and 87 nurses per 100,000 people.

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