Abstract
The rural areas of the United States-Mexico border are impacted by challenges that are uniquely different for health care providers and patients compared to those seen in urban areas. Rural populations, on average, have relatively more elderly, unemployment and underemployment, and poor, uninsured, and underinsured residents. They are more vulnerable to economic downturns because of their economic specialization than their urban counterparts. The US-Mexico border is one of the busiest in the world, spanning 2,000 miles between California to Texas, with roughly 30% of the estimated 30 million residing in rural areas of the border. In June of 2008, the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) convened the first meeting towards implementing an NRHA Border Health Initiative, a partnership for addressing the access needs of rural communities in this vast region of the country. Since the start of the initiative, partnerships between the NRHA and federal, state, and community-based organizations have been established to help address border specific issues through advocacy, communications, education, and research. This presentation will highlight the challenges and opportunities along rural areas of the US-Mexico border and discuss some of the outcomes of the NRHA’s initiative that have developed over the last 11 years. Attendees can expect to 1) have a better understanding of specific health, population, and systemic issues occurring in this part of the country; 2) become familiar with some of the partners making an impact in this area; and 3) learn about recommendations for establishing progress.
Citation Format: Amy Elizondo. Border health overview: Challenges and opportunities [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2019 Sep 20-23; San Francisco, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl_2):Abstract nr IA09.
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