Introduction to Border Health

Catalog description

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. This course introduces the U.S.-Mexico border as a dynamic region where public health problems grow out of a combination of factors in the United States and Mexico. A major focal point is community health, to which the course relates the various public health disciplines as an introduction to public health. Overarching factors such as population movement, diverse sociocultural and economic demographics, and a rapidly expanding population influence infectious disease transmission and general population health. Information about the history and cultures of the South Texas region provide background information for understanding the confluence of factors shaping regional public health. Economic forces that influence health include the maquiladora system of binational factories that operate in a free-trade zone environment and the need for hand labor in various economic sectors in different parts of the United States. Environmental challenges in the region include water pollution and scarcity, air pollution, food supply problems, and poor urban and rural infrastructure. Policy and political factors also affect population health and economics along the border (e.g., NAFTA, homeland security, and state regulation of health insurance plans).