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Show 165 practically no endemic disease in rural Mexico which is not being dealt with by the health authorities. The ejidos or communal farm areas, hitherto never received medical attention, but last year 1,562,000 ejido farmers and their families received medical aid, the cost of which was in most cases covered by ejido funds. The medical services in these zones are being extended and generally improved, as is the number of trained personnel. One hundred and thirty-one medical centers for the care of underprivileged mothers and children have been established in the past fifteen years. The government authorities, in expressing their appreciation of the fine work done, by the medical and sanitation experts in improving hygienic standards in the most unhealthful and difficult regions, point out that the solution of the problem has not been one-sided. Rural education facilities, first proved in 1922, have been improving at the same rapid rate; 13,780 federal rural schools were already in existence by 1939. The writer goes on to discuss the obvious unequal distribution of doctors in Mexico, but concludes that the medical profession in Mexico has manifested a progressive spirit in the last few years. The study concludes with the observation that the cultural and hygienic advance of the Mexican peasant will come about as a result of his own efforts. The doctor, the teacher, and the government can only provide them with the means to achieve this goal. 1945 Bejarano, Jorge (Colombia). "El Cocaismo en Colombia," America Indigena, V No. 1 (January, 1945), Mexico, D.F., pp. 11-20. English Summary: In spite of the campaign below referred to, which is being carried on by the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Service, the coca-chewing vice common among the Indians of the Departments of Cauca and Huila, appears to be rapidly spreading among the working classes in these areas. Professor Jorge Bejarano describes the way which coca is used by the Indians and its narcotic effects with respect to Indians's whole life. He loves and venerates the trees that produce the coca; and when he dies he leaves as his only property the trees he had cultivated so carefully. The Indian works for his master four days of the week and he dedicates two days to the cultivation of his plot of land. If he does not cultivate coca himself, he invests almost all the pittance he receives almost |