[Epidemiological surveillance at IMSS: a review of institutional successes].

Abstract

The Mexican Institute for Social Security (IMSS) has recently celebrated 8 decades of existence; its contribution to the processes of medical care, public health and epidemiological surveillance in Mexico have been among its cornerstones. This article presents some selected points of the history of the Institute's epidemiological surveillance, from its birth in the organic structure to the successes of identifying agents and responding to outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics that have been milestones in the modern history of our country, such as diseases preventable by vaccination, pathologies affecting the respiratory tract, as well as the gastrointestinal tract, vector-borne and sexually transmitted diseases that have been subject to sectoral epidemiological surveillance, not only in terms of epidemiological surveillance, but also as contributions of research. Finally, it is a brief recapitulation to know and understand the events that the Institute have experienced, i. e., where we come from, what has been achieved in order to understand where we are and what can be built and done in the future.