immunizationAt the Border and Beyond begins at the junction of Texas's Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) and Northern Mexico, including the cities of Ciudad Victoria and Matamoros. The LRGV is one of the most medically underserved and impoverished areas in the U.S.

Major cities include Brownsville, Harlingen, and McAllen on the U.S. side. Poverty is a way of life for many of the children living on both sides of the border of Mexico and Texas. Many of these children are products of generations of families that have lived in the region. Others are recent immigrants.

This region of the state has the greatest percentage of children living in poverty and the greatest number without access to health care (Children's Defense Fund. Children in the Nation, 2005). The problems felt by these children are not merely the result of actions or inactions of those living in the area. The roots of these problems area tangled web of local, state, national and international problems. The Texas-Mexico border is representative of the symbiotic relationship ofmany joint-border nations of unequal wealth.

map of lower Rio Grande ValleyThe Texas-Mexico border provides a unique opportunity for pediatricians to be trained in the skills of community pediatrics, working in collaboration with public health experts, promotoras (lay health educators), anthropologists, migrant health experts, economists, educators and parents implementing the guidelines designed by the American Academy of Pediatricians for advocacy to address the factors that perpetuate the suffering of children.

Didactic classes will be held at the UTHSCSA Regional Academic Health Center and University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston-School of Public Health -Brownsville.

Experiential learning will be through:

Course Objectives

  1. Educate participants on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and its implications for health care providers working with children
  2. Educate participants on the social determinants of childhood disease and health in resource-poor regions with emphasis on the South Texas/Mexico border.
  3. Assist participants in developing skills to care for pediatric patients and their families when medical and social service resources are limited.
  4. Increase participants’ awareness of the root causes and personal impact of poverty and social injustices on health and deepen understanding of the challenges faced by families living in poverty.
  5. Prepare participants to be advocates for social justice to improve the health of children, families, and communities.
  6. Foster participants’ cultural and linguistic competence, with emphasis on South Texas/Mexico border issues.
  7. Foster a culture of compassion for self and for others.
  8. Provide individualized professional development guidance.

Patient Population

Community for Children-At the Border and Beyond begins at the junction of Texas’s Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) and Northern Mexico. Major cities include Brownsville, Harlingen, and McAllen on the U.S. side and Matamoros, Mexico, directly across from Brownsville. An estimated 340,691 children live in the LRGV, 36% of the total population. This figure does not include children who cross the border from Mexico into the LRGV.

In the LRGV, 94% of children are Latino, primarily of Mexican-origin. The percentage of children, ages 0-17, living below poverty is 44.7% (compared with 21.9% for Texas). Border county populations, including children, suffer higher rates of diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, asthma, tuberculosis, and hepatitis, yet are in one of the most medically underserved regions of the U.S. Here, the ratio of direct care physicians per population is 1:1,656 (compared to the Texas’ 1:661). The ratio of pediatricians to children is 1:1,815.

Sources: Border Kids Count, 2005, Anne E. Casey Foundation; Texas State Department of Health Services’ Center for Health Statistics; At the Cross Roads: US/Mexico Border Counties in Transition-US/Mexico Border Counties Coalition, 2005; Texas Board of Medical Examiners

Benefits

In addition to the opportunity to train in university and community settings with international public health experts, physicians, community leaders, promotoras (lay health educators), medical anthropologists, migrant and refugee health experts, economists, and families on both sides of the Border, there are benefits such as:

  • Housing near the academic campus
  • Stipends to support travel in the area. Participants must pay their own way to the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV).
  • Personal attention and one-on-one guidance from faculty mentors
  • Direct interaction with clinical faculty
  • 24-hour computer access to medical journals and reference -- even from home PC
  • Easy access to South Padre Island National Seashore/Gulf of Mexico
  • International cultural exchange through study-related and recreational travel in Mexico, as circumstances permit.
  • Individualized Spanish lessons