Museum of Public Health Emílio Ribas, Public health museum in Bom Retiro District, São Paulo, Brazil.
The Museum of Public Health Emílio Ribas houses medical instruments, photographs, and documents that trace how healthcare evolved in Brazil. The collections also include sound recordings and videos that provide a complete view of this medical history.
The museum was established in 1979 in a building from 1893 that originally functioned as a central disinfection facility, one of Brazil's earliest public health institutions. This building represents the country's early efforts to fight disease.
The museum bears the name of Emílio Ribas, a pioneer in epidemiology whose work shaped public health in Brazil. Its collections reflect how medical knowledge and health practices have changed over time and what mattered to people throughout these shifts.
The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, and admission is free. It sits in the Rua Tenente Pena architectural complex in the Bom Retiro district. It reopened on 13 May 2015 after five years closed, run by the Instituto Butantan's cultural centre.
The collection holds one of Brazil's largest archives of health-related materials, including rare documents from the 19th century. These historical objects reveal medical practices that are largely forgotten today.
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