1.0       Introduction:   Environmental Public Health Indicators for the U.S.-Mexico Border Region

Following the La Paz Agreement in 1983, the U.S. – Mexico Border XXI Program was established to bring together various American and Mexican agencies and departments responsible for the region bordering these two countries.  The Program was established to help guide activities in the region towards a goal of sustainable development through the protection of human health and the environment, and the appropriate management of natural resources in both countries.  The mission of the Border XXI program is to “achieve a clean environment, protect public health and natural resources, and encourage sustainable development along the U.S. – Mexico border” (www.epa.gov/usmexicoborder / ef-about.htm). 

This U.S. – Mexico border region is characterized by conditions impacting the health of border communities such as: rapid urbanization; increased industrial/manufacturing development and associated occupational risks; an increasing number of youth, working adults and children resulting from migration; a high rate of poverty; lack of sufficient drinking water supplies and inadequate drinking water quality; inadequate treatment and disposal of domestic and industrial wastewater, solid and hazardous industrial wastes; and improper handling and storage of pesticides.  All of these situations are occurring in a region without the accompanying development of health and environmental infrastructure and capacities to effectively deal with these issues at the local and region levels (www.yosemite1.epa.gov/oia/MexUSA.nsf/).

The Environmental Health Working Group of the Border XXI Program is charged with addressing those health issues linked to environmental factors in the region.  The ultimate goal of this group is to address environmental health concerns in the region through: (1) improving the capacity of state, tribal, and local health and environmental agencies to assess the relationship between human health and the environment by conducting surveillance, monitoring, and research; (2) supporting projects to improve the capacity of state, tribal and local health and environmental agencies to deliver environmental health intervention, prevention and education services; (3) increase the opportunity for all border stakeholders to participate in environmental health initiatives; (4) improve training opportunities for environmental health personnel, and (5) improve public awareness and understanding of environmental health problems by providing information and educational opportunities (www.yosemite1.epa.gov/oia/MexUSA.nsf).

Following objective (1) above, this paper proposes a rationale and selection of a list of candidate indicators to comprise a core group within the monitoring and surveillance program being developed by the Border XXI Environmental Health Working Group.