Population
The United States
and Mexico share a 2000 mile border that joins four U.S. and six Mexican
states and extends 62 miles on either side of the legal boundary.
More
than nine million people live in the 23 U.S. counties and 39 Mexican
municipalities that touch the border, with 5.2 million in the U.S. and
3.9 million in Mexico, and 86% living in one of 12 pairs of border
sister cities.
The
population can be characterized as young and predominately Hispanic.
More than 42% overall, and, when excluding San Diego, 72% of the U.S.
border population is Hispanic, with some border cities have Hispanic
populations of more than 90%.
When
excluding San Diego, more than 29% of U.S. border residents have less
than a 9th grade level of education.
The
U.S. border population is growing three times as fast as the nation's.
The population of Mexico's border municipalities is predicted to double
in nine years.
Poverty
Of the 313
Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the U.S., the border region contains
five of the seven poorest.
In
Arizona, all three main border cities have sections declared as Economic
Empowerment Zones by the federal government.
Over
35% of Texas' border population lives in poverty.
New
Mexico's Doņa Ana County has been ranked as the 10th poorest county in
the nation.
In
response to the declining relative value of the Mexican peso,
unemployment rates have soared, potentially worsening economic
conditions along the border.
Substandard Living Conditions
According to the
U.S. General Accounting Office, the border region contains hundreds of
colonias, substandard developments lacking running water, sewage
systems, and often, electricity. An estimated 340,000 Texans and 15,000
New Mexicans live in colonias, with more than 97% reported to be
Hispanic and two-thirds born in the U.S.
Environmental Degradation, Infectious Diseases,
and Shortages of
Health Care Professionals
Environmental Degradation
The United
States-Mexico border region is plagued with environmental health
problems that are similar to those found in Third World nations.
Hundreds of thousands of United States citizens lack clean water for
drinking, bathing, cooking, and washing clothes and dishes, and are
without basic sewage systems. Due to these poor living conditions, the
border region has a much higher rate of waterborne diseases and other
communicable and infectious diseases than the rest of the United States.
Some
U.S. border cities violate safe air standards. Disposal of hazardous
waste has become a primary concern as border industrialization has grown
during the past thirty years.
In
1992, more than 32,000,000 pounds of toxic materials were released or
transferred in the U.S. border region.
Lupus
rates in Nogales, Arizona (94 per 100,000) have been reported to be
higher than the highest published rate in medical literature, and the
multiple Myeloma rate is 2.4 times the national average.
The
San Pedro River in Naco, Arizona, contains 35 times the federal maximum
for lead in drinking water and five times the federal maximum for
arsenic. High levels of lead have been found in the soil around Douglas,
Arizona.
Each
day, 24 million gallons of raw sewage are dumped into the Rio Grande
River from Nuevo Laredo, with some parts of the river containing fecal
bacteria counts as high as 22,000 bacteria per milliliter (200 per
milliliter is considered unsafe for swimming). For many border
communities, the Rio Grande is the only source of water for drinking,
bathing, cooking, and washing clothes and dishes.
California's
New River is the most polluted in the U.S., containing more than 100
industrial chemicals and receiving 76 million liters of raw sewage each
day.
Each day, 46 million liters of raw sewage flow into the Tijuana
River, and five million gallons of contaminated water flow from the
River into the Pacific.
Communicable and Infectious Diseases
In the U.S. border
region, the rate of tuberculosis is twice the national rate, and, in
some cases, up to three times as high. In 1993, in a selected population
near El Paso, 43% of TB cases involved single- or
multiple-drug-resistant strains of the disease.
In
the U.S., the rate of Hepatitis A along the border is three times the
national rate, with some strains five times as high. In a colonia near
El Paso, Texas, a 1987 study showed that Hepatitis A infected over
one-third of children by the age of eight and 90% of adults by age 35.
On the Mexican side, the rate of Hepatitis A infection along the border
is more than double the Mexican national rate.
Salmonella
and shigella dysentery occur in the colonias at three to four times the
rate of the rest of the U.S., and on the Mexican side, the salmonella
rate is 26% higher than the rest of Mexico.
The
border has experienced rabies outbreaks, and cases of leprosy have been
reported in San Diego, El Paso, and Tijuana.
Weak Public Health Infrastructure
Every county along
the border has at least a partial shortage of primary care health
professionals, with 25 percent of the counties rated as having the most
severe degree of shortage. Recent public health clinic closings and
cutbacks in the border region exacerbate the shortage of primary health
care services.
The
lack of public work facilities such as access to potable water, adequate
sewage treatment systems, and adequate street and drainage systems in
the border region remains one of the most severe problems affecting the
area.
With
more than 35 percent of its population living in poverty, the border
region's tax base is woefully inadequate for developing an improved
public health infrastructure.
The Impact: Border Health is a National Concern
The health problems
that plague the U.S.-Mexico border region pose a national concern to
both the U.S. and Mexico. Demographic mobility patterns such as
relocating families, travelers, tourists, and migrant workers,
contribute to the diffusion of health problems and public concern in
both countries. Every day, an average of 1.6 million people cross the
border, making the border region a single epidemiological zone.
Reports
of salmonella infections, mosquito-transmitted malaria, measles, and
tuberculosis across the United States have been traced to Mexico or the
border area.
Rates
of HIV infection and drug abuse are reported as higher in northern
border areas of Mexico than in other parts of the country.
Last
Modified:
Monday, August 28, 2000
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