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The Binational Border Health
Information System (BBHIS) is a mechanism of information exchange and
epidemiological response among the states of Chihuahua (Mexico), New
Mexico and Texas with emphasis in the border region. This project is under
the direction of the public health authorities of Chihuahua, New Mexico
and Texas. The coordination and management of the project was assigned to
the Border Epidemiology and Environmental Health Center. In 1995, the New Mexico Office of Border Health began the development of an epidemiological alert system referred to as “EPI-FAX”, to transmit information via facsimile to public health officials in Mew Mexico, Texas, and Chihuahua. On November 21, 1997, a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate the establishment of a system of information exchange and epidemiological response was signed by Federal, state, regional, and local health authorities from the three states and both countries. The Binational Border Health Information System has continued to develop through the cooperative efforts of strong partnerships at the local and state levels. In 1998 the U.S. State Department noted this project as an example of a successful binational activity in its report, Progress Report to the Presidents of Mexico and the United States on the Initiative to Implement a New Border Vision (June 10, 1998). The Binational Border Health Information System was established to develop an adequate communications process between the public health authorities of the three states and designated Mexican Federal offices. The purpose of the system was specifically to implement the EPI-FAX instrument (for health alerts related to events or conditions that could affect the health of the binational border population) as an urgent notification tool between the public health authorities; to develop a binational technical publication about border public health issues; and, to establish a network for cooperation among the public health authorities, which is intended to allow expeditious response to health situations or incidents involving both countries. The Federal health agencies requested that the parties develop the Binational Border Health Information System as a model for border-wide application. On November 1999, the BBHIS, was formally presented to health authorities at the Texas-Tamaulipas border who had expressed an interest in implementing the system. The technical documentation of the BBHIS has also been shared with appropriate state and border health agencies and authorities. This model approach is used by the health authorities of Chihuahua, New Mexico and Texas to affect the implementation of binational actions and support increased communication.
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Components:
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Border Epidemiology and Environmental Health Center
Department of Health Science