Abstract

ZARATE CAMPOS, María Soledad  and  GODOY CATALAN, Lorena. Mothers, children, and the policies of Chile's Servicio Nacional de Salud (1952-1964). Hist. cienc. saude-Manguinhos [online]. 2011, vol.18, suppl.1, pp. 131-151. ISSN 0104-5970.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0104-59702011000500008.

This description and exploration of the early years of Servicio Nacional de Salud, founded in 1952, analyzes the agency's progress and challenges, as well as the role of the Programa de Salud Materno-Infantil. The latter program lent continuity to a variety of sanitary protection policies for mothers and children dating to the 1920s, while also improving and expanding on existing policies and devising new ones within the framework of social medicine. The program recorded successes but also encountered limitations, which derived not only from agency-specific problems but also from the social and economic ills afflicting the country as a whole.

Keywords : medically assisted childbirth; mother-child health; sanitary policies; Servicio Nacional de Salud; Chile.