US, Mexico Team up on Health Care

The United States and Mexico this week took some imaginative steps to combat health problems -- including TB, diabetes and AIDS -- that plague border communities and migrant workers. Meeting in El Paso, Texas, and neighboring Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, health experts from the two nations agreed on a 10-year agenda for improving care for the 11.5 million people who live along the nearly 2,000-mile border. As part of the program, Mexico unveiled its "Go Healthy, Return Healthy" initiative, and California and Mexico kicked off their first joint "health week."

A commission study issued Monday found that rates of communicable diseases such as TB, HIV/AIDS and hepatitis A are higher in the border region than they are nationally for both countries. Cancer, asthma and diabetes rates are also higher along the border. A workshop of about 100 TB experts met to map out cross-border approaches to tracking and caring for patients. The interruption of TB treatment -- which can lead to resistance to medication -- occurs frequently when ailing migrants cross illegally into the United States. The workshop focused on the development of a binational TB card that would allow patients to continue confidential treatment on either side of the border.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and Mexican Health Secretary Julio Frenk visited several sites that symbolize their nations' emerging cooperation. These included the La Fe health clinic in South El Paso, which treats many AIDS patients, and a US Food and Drug Administration inspection operation. Both countries agreed in September to expand cross-border food safety operations.

Frenk said that in the past, Mexico did not clearly understand the differences between treating stable and migrant populations. The new program acknowledges that migrants carry health problems with them as they leave home, and they bring ailments like AIDS with them when they return from the United States. Thompson told the US delegates he would try to come up with an additional $25 million for border health projects if they would come up with specific, effective ways to spend the money.

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