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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
USAID Announces Grant to Improve Healthcare on the Mexican Border
Event Highlights President Bush's Commitment to Cross-Border Cooperation
U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, DC 20523
PRESS OFFICE
http://www.usaid.gov
(202) 712-43202002-125
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 5, 2002Contact: USAID Press Office
Nogales, Sonora (Mexico) - Adolfo A. Franco, Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) today announced a $350,000 grant to help fund a pilot Medical Emergency Triage and Stabilization Unit at the General Hospital of Nogales, Sonora (Mexico). Franco was joined at a press conference by Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), Dr. José Bernardo Cruz Ochoa, Public Health Secretary of the State of Sonora (Mexico), Dr. Enrique Davis, Medical Director of the General Hospital at Nogales, Sonora, and Kent Rollins, President of the University Medical Center Foundation.
The USAID contribution will total $200,000 in funds and $150,000 in equipment to increase the capacity of the unit to treat difficult births and trauma. USAID will work with partners from Arizona and from Sonora, Mexico, including University Medical Services Foundation of Tucson, Arizona and the Health Secretariat of the State of Sonora. The partners also will provide equipment, maintenance, training, and other support.
By improving access to emergency health care, the unit will address the issue of Mexican nationals having to rely heavily on the United States for emergency medical attention. In addition, Arizona residents will have access to quality emergency medical care while visiting family, conducting business or touring the area.
"The overreaching goal of the project is better coordination and also the upgrading of care available in the Arizona-Sonora border. Care will be provided in the most appropriate setting. It will be technically proficient, in a cost-effective environment without compromising the level and quality of care. Moreover, time will no longer be lost in crossing the international border, which can seriously affect outcome," said Franco.
This pilot trauma unit will improve health care in Mexico, reduce infant mortality as well as trauma cases crossing the border, and will lower costs to the Arizona hospital system. Furthermore, it will enable Mexican health care providers to stabilize patients on the Mexican side of the border and then transport them to Hermosillo for long-term care instead of sending traumatized patients to the physically-closer Arizona hospitals for required emergency care.
"This initiative further advances President Bush' commitment to cross-border cooperation and it also follows the President's call to foster public-private partnerships to address the issues of developing nations," said Franco.
U.S. Agency for International Development is the government agency that has provided humanitarian assistance and economic development worldwide for more than 40 years.
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Last Updated on: December 30, 2008 |
