The U.S.-Mexico border is one of the busiest in the world with an estimated 400 million crossings occurring along the 2,000 mile stretch. Recent population growth and industrialization bring new challenges to health and environmental well being. Frequent binational movement presents further challenges. Nearly half a million people live in colonias, unincorporated areas along the border. About 30% of all U.S. farmworkers, and 70% of migrant U.S. farmworkers, cross the U.S. - Mexico border annually. Fifty-five percent of all U.S. farmworkers are immigrants from Mexico.
In 1996 the Health Resources and Services Administration Border Health Program was created to coordinate agency activities in the border area and enlist the help of other public/private sector partners. HRSA and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) entered into a formal partnership to support community-based projects bridging the gap between environmental hazard exposures and public health interventions. To this end, projects to improve the knowledge and skills of health professionals on recognition and treatment of exposures and to enchance the skills and abilities of lay health workers to help residents prevent or minimize exposure have been supported.
This presentation will overview the Border Health Program, the HRSA/EPA partnership activities. A special focus will be “Project Clean Environment for Healthy Kids”, a demonstration contract awarded to the Farmworker Justice Fund, Inc. to train health professionals and lay health workers on environmental hazard exposures. Aspects of project evaluation will be overviewed including pre and post testing and qualitative data obtained from focus groups.
Learning Objectives: At the end of the presentation participants will be able to: 1. Describe main sources of environmental pollution in towns along the U.S.-Mexico border. 2. Identify appropriate tests used for suspected cases of pesticide exposure, discuss any limitations, and identify resources for more information on environmental pollution. 3. Discuss evaluation methods used for this community based project and be familiar with outcomes.
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.