Blog 4: Mexico

Hello, everyone and welcome, back to my BLOG #4!

This week I will be focusing on a country very dear to my heart and that is Mexico! Its location lies between Belize and the United States while also bordering the North Pacific Ocean, Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico (CIA, 2018). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Mexico has a population of about 125 million people (WHO, n.d). Their life expectancy is 74 for males and 79 for females (WHO, n.d). Out of all of the countries that I have researched thus far, Mexico is the closest one reaching the United States’ life expectancy of 79 years of age. Even though this country has a decent life expectancy rate, they are far from meeting the SDG #3 requirements!

SDG #3 focuses on reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health. Maternal mortality is very important to focus on because it reflects the social development level of a country. The maternal mortality rate is 38/100,000 live births and in 2015, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was to decrease it to at least 22.3/100,000 (Rodriguez, 2018).  By 2015, this goal had not been met due to just a 2.3% reduction, but Mexico continues to strive to accomplish this goal (Rodriguez, 2018). Since Mexico saw little progress and wanted to make a bigger impact in the reduction in maternal mortality ratio, they decided to establish the SDG goals which has a new aim to ensure no country has a ratio that exceeds double of the world average (Rodriguez, 2018). Programs like the Mexican Ministry of Health (MoH), WHO, and United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) have had many positive effects for the country, but not enough for vulnerable populations (Torres, Heredia, Ibanez, Avila, 2019). With 46.2% of Mexico’s population living in poverty and 9.5% in extreme poverty, there is a lack of access to health services and higher levels of maternal mortality in these vulnerable populations (Rodriguez, 2019). There are no programs focused on this population and in order to reduce the maternal mortality ratio, this has to be addressed and made a priority.

The second focus of SDG #3 is infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases. Mexico is at an intermediate degree of risk for major infectious diseases. There are about 230,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Mexico and are placed at 25 compared to the rest of the world (CIA, 2018). Some food or waterborne diseases that are common in Mexico include bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, amebiasis, brucellosis and many others which people need to adhere to food and water precautions (Villarino, Montiel, Waterman, 2017). Every time my family and I go to Mexico, we always have to buy our own water from stores due to water concerns. Vector borne diseases like dengue fever, is endemic throughout Mexico and there have been increased reports since 2016 (Villarino…etc, 2017). According to the CDC, the Zika Virus made an appearance in 2015 and has been present ever since. Climate change is very much present and with insects adapting to these environments that are becoming warmer and warmer, makes it difficult to see a solution that is uncontrollable (Villarino…etc, 2017).

Lastly, I will talk about the health system in Mexico. They are currently working on reconstructing health service supplies and financing. In 2001, the government employed the Fair Start in Life which helps improve rural areas with high maternal mortality rates (Torres, Heredia, Cuevas, Burgos, 2019). Then in 2013, one of the most important health care reforms, System of Social protection in Health (SP), was established to expand health care coverage for the population (Torres…etc, 2019). By 2016, 50.3% of the Mexican population was covered under SP (Cortes, Perez, Fernandez, 2019). This health reform really helped to try and improve maternal mortality as well as contraceptive coverage. Mexico’s total expenditure on health is 6.3% (WHO, n.d). Public investment in contraceptive method purchase totaled to 974.1 million pesos, which was double the amount than the year before (Cortes…etc, 2019). I think Mexico needs to continue improving equality, quality in services, and providing vulnerable populations with greater access to family planning and health care. Compared to the U.S, Mexico is a developing country that is on the rise to great things, if more effort is made.

References

Central Intelligence Agency  (CIA). (2018). The World Factbook: Mexico. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mx.html

León-Cortés, J. L., Sánchez-Pérez, H. J., & Leal Fernández, G. (2019). Health reform in Mexico: governance and potential outcomes. International Journal for Equity in Health, 18(1), N.PAG. https://doi-org.ezp.twu.edu/10.1186/s12939-019-0929-y

Rodríguez-Aguilar R. (2018). Maternal mortality in Mexico, beyond millennial development objectives: An age-period-cohort model. PloS one, 13(3), e0194607. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0194607

Torres-Pereda, P., Heredia-Pi, I. B., Ibáñez-Cuevas, M., & Ávila-Burgos, L. (2019). Quality of family planning services in Mexico: The perspective of demand. PLoS ONE, 14(01), 1–22. https://doi-org.ezp.twu.edu/10.1371/journal.pone.0210319

Villarino, Margarita E., Montiel, Sonia H., Waterman, Stephen H.. (2017). Travelers' Health. Retrieved from https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2018/select-destinations/mexico

World Health Organization (WHO). (n.d). Mexico Retrieved from https://www.who.int/countries/mex/en/