María Victoria López

Homicides in Medellín, Colombia, from 1990 to 2002: victims, motives and circumstances

In Medellín, Colombia, homicide has been the first cause of morbidity and mortality for 20 years. Medellín has the highest homicide rates of all major cities in Latin America. This study describes the victims, motives, and circumstances in homicides in Medellín from 1990 to 2002. The period included 55,365 homicides, of which 1,394 were randomly studied. Of this sample, 93.6% (95%CI: 92.2%-94.8%) were males, 77.0% (95%CI: 75.0%-79.5%) less than 35 years of age, one-fourth had consumed alcohol, and nine out of ten were killed with firearms. The main motives were revenge and armed robbery. 37.0% (95%CI: 34.0%-41.0%) of the victims lived in the lowest socioeconomic stratum of the city. Characteristics of homicides in Medellín have remained unchanged since the 1980s, when the most violent period in the citys history began. The most heavily affected groups are young males who live and die in poor neighborhoods, and the murders are individual acts that leave no wounded behind.

Treinta años de homicidios en Medellín, Colombia, 1979-2008

El homicidio en Medellin, Colombia, se convirtio en la primera causa de muerte desde 1986 y su participacion del total de muertes paso de 3,5% en 1976 a 42% en 1991 y 7% en 2006. Entre 1979 y 2008 hubo 81.166 homicidios (2.706 promedio/ano). La tasa de homicidios por 100.000 habitantes fue 44 en 1979 y 47 en 2008, con un maximo de 388 en 1991. Se describen caracteristicas de los homicidios en 30 anos, entre 1979 y 2008, por quinquenios, mediante una muestra aleatoria de 3.414 necropsias medico-legales. Los muertos fueron hombres 92.8% (IC95%: 91,8; 93,6), jovenes con promedios de edad entre 27 y 33 anos, residentes en estratos socio-economicos bajos, con predomino de los moviles ajustes de cuentas, rinas y atracos. Se evidenciaron tres periodos diferentes de la epidemia de homicidios: el primero de incremento acelerado 15 anos, el segundo de descenso sostenido hasta 1998 y el tercero ondulante y descenso abrupto en los 10 ultimos anos. Estos resultados de larga duracion de la violencia en la ciudad abren posibilidades analiticas para encontrar politicas mas consistentes de intervencion.

Masters in Collective Health: pathway of challenges and possibilities

The masters program in Collective Health at Universidad de Antioquia reaches its 20 years. This fact constitutes a motive of satisfaction, recognition, and gratitude: to the directors at Universidad de Antioquia who have made it possible for this program to be maintained and have the parameters of a graduate program, sustainability, and evaluation established in the institution and in the national and international context; to the students and alumni who have opened the field of questions and have positioned relevant problems and new debates; and to the professors who in the most committed manner have contributed with their experiences, reflections, and knowledge acquired through research, formation, and outreach and with the best of their intellectual work.