Mexico : Reaching the Poor with Basic Health Services
In the mid-1990s, many Mexicans lived in poverty without adequate access to health and social services. Of a total population of 84 million, 25 percent were considered poor and 16 percent, extremely poor. Urban areas had health indicators similar t...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/03/2539008/mexico-reaching-poor-basic-health-services http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10391 |
| Summary: | In the mid-1990s, many Mexicans lived in
poverty without adequate access to health and social
services. Of a total population of 84 million, 25 percent
were considered poor and 16 percent, extremely poor. Urban
areas had health indicators similar to OECD countries, with
an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases and
injuries, while many people in rural areas and the southern
states still suffered from common infectious diseases and
malnutrition. Life expectancy in rural areas was 55 versus
71 in urban areas and 53 among the poor. The Mexican
government realized that inequitable access to basic health
care for poor and indigenous people hampered economic
development, jeopardized investments in basic education and
deprived citizens of their constitutional right to attain
good health. So it devised a strategy to reduce inequities,
improve health care, and modernize the Federal Health
Secretariat (SSA). A 1994 presidential decree created a
Health Cabinet (Gabinete de Salud) headed by the President
with representatives from social security, finance and other
social sector entities, to guide the SSA restructuring,
promote coordination among sectors, and oversee the
decentralization of health services. |
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