The US Mexico Border

The Arizona border region extends for more than 300 miles, from the town of Yuma in the west to Douglas in the east. The main border cities and towns include Yuma, Somerton and San Luis (SW Yuma County), Nogales (Santa Cruz County), and the Douglas area (Cochise County).  Yuma County has a population of 107,000 with 60,000 people living in the City of Yuma.  The smallest county in the state, Santa Cruz, has a population of approximately 30,000 of whom 23,000 live in Nogales.  Yuma and Santa Cruz counties have the highest percentage of Hispanics.  The communities within those counties, in which we will work, are about 90% Mexican American.  Four Native American Indian tribes live in the Arizona border counties.

The U.S.-Mexico Border is a rapidly changing bi-national multicultural group of interrelated communities that have serious health challenges as well as incredible human capacity and cultural assets to address these challenges. The US border cities and towns are located in four of the seven poorest counties in the United States. Approximately 39% of border residents have incomes below 200% poverty levels and 30% are without medical insurance. At least 18% of children in the four Border States lack access to a primary care provider. Many studies indicate that chronic diseases, such as diabetes and its associated behavioral risk factors, are much more prevalent in the US-Mexico border region than in the rest of the US. The magnitude of the disparity has been estimated particularly well in the Arizona-Sonora border communities.

Diabetes Mellitus In Border Communities

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Mexican Americans is at least 2-3 times greater than in non-Hispanic whites, and Mexican Americans account for about 75-80% of the border population. Diabetes mortality rate in the border region is nearly 50% higher than in the rest of the country. In Arizona from 1985-95, the Hispanic diabetes mortality rate was 20.6 compared to 9.5 per 100,000 for non-Hispanic whites.  The primary risk factors for diabetes are obesity (related to diet and lack of physical activity), familial history, and age. 

Border Health Strategic Initiative

In response to the grave health risks posed by diabetes in border communities, the University of Arizona College of Public Health (COPH) has initiated a comprehensive diabetes prevention and control program (Border Health ¡SI!) with Arizona border communities. Border Health ¡SI! is committed to providing direct services to border residents, to training health professionals and lay educators, and to making permanent changes in lifestyles that will save countless medical treatment dollars later on.   Right now almost every family in these communities is affected by diabetes.  Through the efforts of this project, the communities are encouraged to engage in physical activity and healthy eating.  Such efforts are needed to prevent and/or control the ravages of diabetes. 

Border Health ¡SI! consists of six major components that comprise a comprehensive diabetes prevention and control model.  Each component has tailored a specific strategy to provide direct services to the Yuma and Santa Cruz communities.  While Border Health ¡SI! partners within each community provide the services, the organizations benefit from technical assistance and expertise from the COPH.