[Centenary of the Fontilles Sanitorium].
In recognition of the centenary of the Fontilles Sanitorium, we present some details of its history. The article discusses the foundation of the sanitorium by some of the numerous lepers with no health coverage in the region of Valencia, and Alicante in particular. After a difficult period between 1909 and 1932, the sanitorium was seized by the Republican government. After the civil war, it was returned to the board of trustees, who entrusted administrative tasks to the Compañía de Jesús while health care was overseen by the National Health Board. This coexistence was uneasy, and the board of trustees took over again in 1943. We comment on the transition from a sanitorium and colony into a hospital providing health care, research and training, and treatment with sulfones and subsequently other effective drugs. Also discussed are its role in the elimination of leprosy from Spain, admission to the International Federation of Antileprosy Associations in 1969, and its projects in endemic countries, with the ultimate goal of achieving a world free of leprosy.
Terencio de Las Aguas
J
J
Consejero de la Sociedad Internacional de Leprología, Académico de la Real Academia de Medicina de Valencia, España. drjoseterencio@hotmail.com
D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006761:Hospitals / Q000266:history*; D007918:Leprosy / Q000266:history*; D013030:Spain