Dissemination of health information is a significant part of technical cooperation of PAHO to member governments. Data and information are fundamental elements to produce health situation analysis that is required by leaders who make decisions affecting social and health policies. The objective of the mortality profiles of these Sister Communities is to contribute to the documentation of geographic patterns of mortality and trends on the United States - Mexico Border. This material in addition to containing information on mortality of the 14 sister community pairs of the Mexico-United States Border, emphasizes the importance of generating and utilizing data at the local, state, national and binational levels. Tables, graphs, and maps are used to analyze data at the municipality or county level in which the Sister Communities are located.

This first mortality geographic information system (GIS) represents an instrument to identify communities that show the highest rates, where intervention efforts could be justified. PAHO hopes that population groups that are identified to be at the greatest risk of mortality and that have been previously overlooked, would be the object of important field studies that will reveal the influence (relative weight) of the principal risk factors of health and determinants of mortality. This publication is a product of the joint efforts among the Ministry of Health of Mexico, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the United States, and the Special Program for Health Analysis of the Pan American Health Organization. The profiles are extensively detailed and include leading causes of death grouped by age and sex. As previously mentioned, data are presented not only at the municipality or county level, but also, for reference, at the state, national and binational levels.

The two editions currently available cover the periods from 1992 to 1994 (1992-1994 Edition) and from 1995 to 1997 (2000 Edition)

Sister Communities on the United States - Mexico Border

2000 Edition:
(1995-1997)

Text (2,799KB)
Annexes (929 KB)

1992-1994 Edition:
(1992-1994)

Text and annexes (3,336KB)