The twentieth century, was a century of many events and circumstances in Latin America, and this events and circumstances fomented the growth of great initiatives worth mentioning in this article. The first one in Mexico City in 1912, and the second one in Buenos Aires in 1921.
In 1912 the Health Council of Mexico City was created. This is a council made/composed by members of the middle class of Mexico City, its purpose is to hear the different situations concerning the hygiene of Mexico and the health of the Mexicans and to act as mediators between the lower class and the elite society in Mexico city.
In the meetings of this council, hygiene and health issues of the city are discussed, as well as alternatives and ideas to improve the city. As its mission statement states: “To further enhance the general public health of Mexico City. To serve as a medium between the elite and non-elite populations of the society when it comes to public health. To communicate how to achieve better hygiene on a personal and city wide level.”
I wasn’t able to attend to any of their councils in the time, because by that time I was doing a report on cuba, but researching, I found the minutes of one of the meetings of the council. In that particular meeting they had a speaker come and shared some of the facts of the city, some very alarming as for instance the life expectancy that was 26.5 years in that years. Hernandez the speaker had researched a lot about the cause of this low high expectancy, and the hygiene of the city was definitely not contributing. The council proposed some alternatives and plan of action to this initiative.
Surprisingly for many but not for all, great initiatives in this first half of the twentieth century have come from women too, that are taking a more active role. In Buenos Aires in 1921 a feminist group initiative was born. As a journalist I had the opportunity to be present in one of their meetings where many important topics were brought up and where I had the chance to listen to first hand testimonies from different women.
The meeting I was able to assist took place in a hospital, and I was very surprised when I found out that even a male doctor was present on that meeting and he was definitely a very active member. He stated “as Argentina can be on the progressive forefront with our feminist views as we lean to the science of Eugenics to cure our social ills.” Eugenics is movement that still is in place but the women of this group are going beyond, and not only eugenics is the solution but also their feminist views. Doctor Renaldo, the doctor present at that meeting, was encouraging the women present in this meeting to join their feminist voice to the voice of the eugenics, to the voice of progress.
Maria, a woman from a lower class shared her touching testimony. How the absence of good doctors and decent health conditions had resulted in the death of her child. Juanita shared her story too, she was a prostitute that ended up in that job because she had no family, there were not alternatives to her, and she also brought up the fact that in the United States by the same time women had already gain their right to vote.
Being present in that meeting help me as a journalist understand many of the feelings the women in Argentina have as well as many as the struggles they have to go through. Hearing the testimonies helped to get in touch with the society more, and hearing the doctor speak was eye opening who even a man doctor can agreed with their cause so strongly. As well as having the opportunity to read the minutes of one of the meetings of the Mexico City health council, also was very helpful to learn what was going on Mexico, and how was Mexico responding to the alarming facts and how they addressed those issues.
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