Frontera NorteSur 2006

Will the Mexican Government Expand Health Insurance Coverage?

In his inaugural address to the nation on December 1, Mexican President Felipe Calderon pledged to expand low-income social programs that he said enjoy a track record of success. Among the programs President Calderon cited was Popular Insurance, a low-income health insurance plan that was developed during the Fox Administration. Although Popular Insurance gets a fair amount of media attention, little is publicized about the details and benefits of the current program. According to one Popular Insurance official in northern Chihuahua state, the existing program does not pay for curing dozens of serious ailments and diseases.

At a Ciudad Juarez press conference last week, Guadalupe Vasquez, Popular Insurance coordinator for Chihuahua state, revealed that 66 health conditions and diseases are not covered for treatment in the government-run program. Vasquez said the uncovered conditions include Parkinson's Disease, dementia, migraine, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, herpes, third-degree burns, cirrhosis of the liver, and breast cancer. In Ciudad Juarez , cirrhosis and other liver problems ranked high among mortality causes for the general population in 2005. Another big health problem in the border city is breast cancer. Statistics from the epidemiological division of Ciudad Juarez 's General Hospital report that a woman died from breast cancer every eight days in 2005, while a new case was detected every 12 days.

In remarks to the press, Vasquez said that previously excluded health conditions will be proposed for inclusion in Popular Insurance during 2007. The health insurance program coordinator explained that the proposal will be presented to the National Commission for Social Health Protection, but did not mention where funding for expanded coverage might be derived. Vasquez added that 669 Ciudad Juarez families which previously had to pay a fee of about $65 dollars per year to remain part of Popular Insurance will no longer have to pay the charges.

Sources: La Jornada, December 2, 2006 . El Diario de Juarez, December 1, 2006. Article by Sandra Rodriguez Nieto.

Anorexia and Malnutrition Ravage a Border Middle School

A survey of Ciudad Juarez middle school students has revealed that 40 percent of the pupils, mainly girls, suffer from anorexia. Carried out by nutritionists and teachers at the Federal Secondary School #17, the researchers discovered that many of the 500 students prefer self-starvation and slim figures to full bellies and big waistlines.

"None of the students realize that they suffer anorexia," said teacher Sara Felisa Carrasco, "but they have been diagnosed by the nutritionists." Maria del Rocio Carpintero Gonzalez, the middle school's principal, said many girls confine their daily diet to a bag of potato chips and a soda every day in order to not get fat.

The school's study also uncovered a malnutrition problem that manifested itself in the classroom with restless and inattentive students. Other young people suffered from headaches and even fainting spells. According to Carrasco, 30 percent of the students showed symptoms of malnutrition, and some suffered from digestive ailments.

Serving students from a poor neighborhood, Federal Secondary School #17 is the site of a school-community project aimed at improving the students' health conditions and their physical environment. The institution is the only middle school in Ciudad Juarez to have a kitchen supported by the municipal branch of the Integral Family Development (DIF) agency.

School staff credit the kitchen with improving students' eating habits and behavior. A free breakfast of cereal, yogurt or jello is offered in the morning, while low-cost hot lunches accompanied by flavored waters are served up later in the day. Nutritionist Julia Lizeth Yanez Limas said the number of students using the kitchen has grown from 20 young people to daily average of 50 or 60, with 120 lining up for food on some days.

Still, the school's educators and health workers face an uphill task in a society in which junk food has become a staple. "The students bring with them nutritional disorders they acquired since they were very young," Principal Carpintero added.

Source: Diario de Juarez, May 7, 2006 . Article by Guadalupe Felix.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________