This two-day event is hosted by the State of New Mexico and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico. It is designed to emphasize the importance of improving public health policies for immigrant populations, as well as to enhance bilateral working relations to improve the health and well-being of Latino communities across the United States.
The program begins on Monday, October 5th, with a reception to welcome guests. Tuesday's activities include the opening plenary session, followed by a series of parallel workshops led by experts covering topics that include:
- Mental Health
- Public Health Emergency responses and migrant populations: Lessons learned from the H1N1 outbreak
- Infectious diseases, including TB and HIV
- Obesity: The case of children
- Occupational Health and Safety
- Diabetes treatment challenges
- Binational responses to health care access and insurance coverage
- Environmental health challenges and migration
Binational Health Week is one of the largest mobilization efforts in the Americas to improve the health and well-being of underserved immigrants and migrants of Mexican and Latin American origin. It encompasses an annual weeklong series of health-promotion and education activities that include workshops, insurance referrals and medical screenings.
This year, the Ninth BHW will take place October 5-15, 2009 in 40 states in the U.S. and 3 provinces in Canada, with the participation of the consular networks in the United States of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Additionally, this year will feature four national campaigns to promote awareness among the Latino community on the Prevention of Addictions, Nutrition, Prevention of Strokes, and Living Green.
Co-sponsors for this year's event include: Mexico's Secretariat of Health and Foreign Affairs, the Secretariats of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia and Peru, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission, the New Mexico Department of Health, the Council of Mexican Federations in North America (COFEM) and the Health Initiative of the Americas.
Source:
Victor Cornejo
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico