Office of Border Health

New Mexico Office of Border Health Policy Initiatives

NM-OBH serves a catalytic role in the development of policy at the local, state, regional, federal and binational levels. At the local level, NM-OBH encourages county health councils to consider border and immigrant health issues as part of their comprehensive wellness plans. At the state level, NM-OBH participated in drafting the State of New Mexico 2008 Comprehensive Strategic Health Plan, incorporating the dimension of border and immigrant health into Chapter 1: Health Inequities.  NM-OBH also interacts with the New Mexico Secretary of Health and the Governor’s Office to coordinate strategies and agreement with public health authorities in Mexico.

Preparation of this Strategic Plan resulted from a series of meetings with current and potential partners (internal to and outside of NMDOH, including the States of Texas and Chihuahua and El Paso City-County Health and Environmental District) to discuss collaborations in planning and implementing public health activities of mutual interest and mandate. The Strategic Plan must also comply with: i) the strategic objectives of the US-Mexico Border Health Commission and be consistent with Healthy Border 2010 topic areas and objectives; and ii) program areas and performance measures outlined in NMDOH Strategic Plans for FY 2008. Strategic directions indicated in the Plan are also consistent with the Ten Essential Public Health Services, adopted in 1994 by the Public Health Functions Steering Committee of the Association of Schools of Public Health.

As a member of the Health Table of the New Mexico-Chihuahua Commission, NM-OBH drafted and negotiated a framework bilateral public health agreement with the Government of Chihuahua. The Agreement of Understanding to Improve and Uphold Public Health Conditions in the Binational Border Region of the States of Chihuahua, Mexico and New Mexico, United States of America was signed by the Governors and Health Secretaries of Chihuahua and New Mexico on May 7, 2008 in Chihuahua City. This agreement was drafted in order to formally recognize and promote implementation of the Comprehensive Public Health Management Plan for the Luna County – Palomas, Chihuahua Binational Corridor.

NM-OBH serves as a delegate to the New Mexico Secretary of Health on the Health Table of the Border Governors Conference (BGC). The six Mexican and four U.S. governors meet annually to discuss binational social and economic issues and to negotiate and accord a series of joint declarations that are directed at the federal governments of Mexico and the U.S. for action. The 2008 annual meeting of the BGC was held in California (http://bordergovernors.ca.gov/). Joint declarations on health deal with improved binational epidemiology and surveillance of infectious disease, improved surveillance and control of tuberculosis on both sides of the border, and development of an educational and outreach program directed at youth obesity and diabetes (http://bordergovernors.ca.gov/pdf/23.pdf).