PARA UMA HISTÓRIA DAS QUESTÕES DE SAÚDE EM MACAU NO SÉCULO XIX : DOENÇAS, EPIDEMIAS, MÉDICOS E DOENTES19世紀澳門衛生問題歷史狀況：疾病、流行病、醫生與病者
This article proposes a history of health issues in Macao during the nineteenth century, articulating diseases, epidemics, medical practices, and experiences of illness against the backdrop of a structurally deficient hygienic system. The authors argue that the high mortality observed in the city in...
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| Published in: | Review of Culture |
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| Format: | Articles |
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Instituto Cultural de Macau
January 2008
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| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40025/3669 |
| Summary: | This article proposes a history of health issues in Macao during the nineteenth century, articulating diseases, epidemics, medical practices, and experiences of illness against the backdrop of a structurally deficient hygienic system. The authors argue that the high mortality observed in the city intensified when epidemic outbreaks emerged, favored by precarious sanitary conditions, unequal vulnerability among communities, and insufficient urban infrastructures, such as sanitation and water supply. The methodology is based on a critical reading of nineteenth-century documentary sources and on historical-medical contextualization, allowing for the correlation of seasonal morbidity patterns with environmental and social determinants. It is concluded that the main epidemics—especially plague, cholera, and smallpox—presented recurrent incidence and strong seasonal expression, while other transmissible diseases, although less epidemic, maintained continuous circulation. The text also highlights preventive measures implemented by the authorities (inspection of dwellings, sanitary surveillance of vessels and pipelines, restrictions on certain foods, and intensification of vaccination) and, simultaneously, underscores the material limits of sanitary control in a context of urban expansion without corresponding investment in sewerage networks. Finally, the analysis suggests that disease dynamics were mediated by relations of hygiene, diet, and differential access to resources, producing marked asymmetries between Chinese and Europeans. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |