http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_15571490

Binational panel IDs critical border health issues
By Chris Roberts \ El Paso Times
Posted: 07/22/2010 12:00:00 AM MDT

EL PASO -- Cultural and language barriers, standards of professional conduct, and border violence present major challenges for health-care providers focused on the region's unique problems.

The U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission is tackling the vast array of health issues, which include obesity, diabetes and tuberculosis. The commission concluded its three-day 10th annual meeting on Wednesday.

"The public-health issues faced on the border are among the most difficult health issues faced by either nation," U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said in a Tuesday video message to commission members.

Indeed the problems are so numerous, complicated by a population that flows back and forth across the border, commission members have spent years finding projects that have the greatest impact.

Nonetheless, on the final day of the meeting, more issues arose.

Environmental health, which includes the effects of pollution, anti-immigrant sentiment that drives people away from hospitals and an increasing number of car-wreck injuries, all need to be addressed, said Dr. José Manuel de la Rosa, commission co-chair and founding dean of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Paul L. Foster School of Medicine.

But there are limits.

"We certainly cannot address all of the issues," he said during Wednesday's meeting. "We need to maintain focus."

Other groups have more resources and there is no need to duplicate efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency, for example,which is examining issues of environmental health, de la Rosa and others said.

When it comes to often divisive politics, it is particularly important to maintain a focused resolve, de la Rosa said.

"How do we address those issues as true scientists, not politicians?" he said.

David Warner, a member of the commission's U.S. expert panel, suggested channeling money into medical schools on both sides of the border with the requirement that binational research teams create projects to deliver actual services. The approach could avoid some of the U.S. objections to spending money on border health projects that might benefit undocumented immigrants.

"It would be reducing an awful lot of future harm if you try to design some significant interventions," Warner said.

Even getting a clear picture of the health issues can be difficult. Up-to-date statistics for states and counties in Mexico are not generally available, said Gudelia Rangel Gómez, coordinator of Mexico's Baja California outreach office.

"We had to do our own calculations so we could get the six states on the border because the information was at the federal level," Rangel said.

On Tuesday, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius presided over the commission meeting and congratulated its members on a productive binational effort.

"The goals that have been set for this commission won't be easy to achieve," Sebelius said. "We've got a lot of hard work ahead of us and a lot of opportunities to work together."