Introduction
The following selected articles tackle problems that can be found within Mexico’s
general healthcare system and will focus on possible solutions to improve the poor healthcare available to Mexican individuals and migrants. Weel et al. highlights the lack of understanding surrounding the importance of primary care within the Mexican healthcare system, which has led to poor support of primary care and deficient training in this area. Because of the poor support for primary care, there is a lack of coordination between primary care facilities and hospitals. In Cram’s article it is discussed that the healthcare system in Mexico is composed of three distinct sectors including the social security healthcare institute, public ministry of health care services and the private sector. The current healthcare sector system creates non standard forms of medical treatment because some institutes provide only bare essentials, while others, like the private sector, are able to perform complex procedures.
Finally, each of these sectors aim to serve the Mexican population as best it can, but is limited due to lack of funding and well-trained practitioners in Mexico. By seeking improvement in Mexico’s healthcare systems, Platt’s article highlights the disconnect between Mexican citizens and mental health workers. He writes of how it is important for these professionals to be trained in being culturally sensitive, in order to be effective in their work. Many Mexicans struggle to receive proper care due to this disconnect, as they feel misunderstood or choose not to seek help in the first place with the presumption of this barrier. Lastly, in Hildebrandt and McKenzie’s article it is discovered that migration has beneficial effects on the health of migrants by improving their health and wealth knowledge due to exposure to western culture. It suggests that western countries should be encouraged to be accepting of these migrants as thousands of migrant families can benefit and improve the current problematic healthcare in Mexico. Through all of these articles, individuals can have a better understanding of Mexico’s current healthcare system, current attempts at bettering this system and ultimately showing what can be done to aid these less wealthy families in Mexico through migration.
Annotated Bibliography
Cram, Nicholas. “The State of the Healthcare System in Mexico.” Journal of Clinical Engineering , vol. 33, no. 1, 2008, pp. 38-42.
In Mexico, the quality of healthcare that individuals receive is dependent upon one’s
socioeconomic status. As discussed in “The State of the Healthcare System in Mexico”, there exist three distinct healthcare subsystems. These include government-funded social security healthcare institutes, the public ministry of healthcare services and the private clinic sector (Cram). The public healthcare sector provides individuals with a minimal standard of healthcare whereas, the private healthcare sector is able to provide more comprehensive treatments. In addition, most well-trained physicians are employed in the private sector. The basic quality of treatment compiled with less-experienced physicians leaves citizens more inclined to purchase private sector services, even though financially they may be unable to do so. Mexico represents a country dedicated to improving its healthcare system nation-wide. However, due to a lack of financial resources and advanced medical technology, Mexico is unable to achieve standardized medical care for its citizens (Cram).
Hildebrandt, Nicole, et al. “The Effects of Migration on Child Health in Mexico [with Comments].” Economía, vol. 6, no. 1, 2005, pp. 257-289.
In Nicole Hilderbrandt and David McKenzie’s article, The Effects of Migration on Child Health in Mexico, the prominent issue of Mexican migrant families and the effect it has on child health is investigated. The sending of migrants to the United States has been practiced by Mexico for many years and past research has found that this results in poor child health (257). However, Hilderbrandt and McKenzie find the opposite through a long term analysis of migrant children by focusing on two main factors: infant mortality rates and birth weight. The data collected shows that while short term studies find that migrants have high infant mortality rates, long term studies show that these numbers decline and migrant children are less likely to be underweight compared to non-migrants (259-260). They justify their findings by explaining that the increase in health benefits comes from western influences which helps raise wealth and health knowledge (259). The importance of their study is to show that migration is beneficial for the health of migrant children which highlights the need for countries to be accepting of these families.
Platt, Jason James. “A Mexico City-Based Immersion Education Program: Training Mental HEalth Clinicians for Practice with Latino Communities.” Journal of Marital and Family Therapy 38.2 (2012): 352-64. ProQuest. Web.
Mexican individuals struggle to receive professional help in the mental health sector, as psychologists are often not trained in being culturally sensitive. Platt writes of an immersive program based in Mexico City designed to train professionals in being more effective in interactions with the Latinx community. The program uses various philosophies. These include “Freire’s Philosophy of Pedagogy”, which emphasizes knowledge being equally spread (353). It also uses “liberation psychology”, which is the study of theories that shape a society and how they directly impact mental health (354). Platt goes on to report other philosophies in use including, “self of the therapist” which analyzes how an individual’s biases control the way they think, as well as “culture as shared stories” which works to influence thoughts through the stories that create a way of life in a specific culture (354-355). The last philosophy is related to the ways in which language barriers limit access to resources (355). Platt indicates that putting these philosophies into use reduces obstacles for Mexican individuals seeking proper mental health care, however there is still much work to be done.
Weel, C. Van, et al. “Supporting Health Reform In Mexico: Experiences And Suggestions From An International Primary Health Care Conference.” The Annals of Family Medicine , vol. 14, no. 3, 2016, pp. 279–280., doi:10.1370/afm.1942.
Mexico struggles to meet the healthcare needs of its population because there is a lack of understanding surrounding primary (generalized) care. There is a lack of coordination between primary care and hospitals. Visits are short (12 minutes) and not prevention-focused. Insurance and coverage for healthcare is lacking, especially for the poor (Weel, C. Van, et al. 279). A larger issue surrounding primary care is that there is a lack of training and research regarding healthcare issues. Family physicians often occupy low socio-economic statuses. As a result, family medicine accounts for 4% of medical training positions (Weel, C. Van, et al. 279). There should be encouragement of patient-centred care and a better understanding of primary care within the medical and general population (Weel, C. Van, et al. 280). Without investments in the primary care sector, investments in the general health care sector will not have better health outcomes.
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