Health institutions in Tucumán, Argentina (late 19th and early 20th Century

Abstract

The creation of health institutions in Tucumán took place within the framework of a broader and more complex process where the powers of state were expanded and consolidated. The aim of this paper is to examine health institutions in Tucumán between the late 19th and early 20th century taking into account that there was a greater interest of public authorities to assert their role in health in that period. The creation of sanitary institutions was linked to health and political circumstances and the actors were involved in the process from inside and outside the state apparatus. Thus, the characteristics of the institutional development, the strategies adopted to compensate the material and professional limitations and the role of the actors involved in the different contexts are analyzed. From a historical perspective, a contribution to the debate about sanitary issues that are nowadays part of the public agenda is attempted. This contribution will consider the implications derived from crises periods of a welfare state, the advance of neoliberalism and the recovery of the state functions in the last decade.