[Decentralising the health sector in Baja California, Mexico].

OBJECTIVE Documenting, defining and examining the state of Baja California's performance in decentralising public health service policy from the signing of the transfer agreement in 1996 up to 2004. METHODS This was a comparative study based on secondary information from 1996-2004. Four key categories were analysed: availability, accessibility, equity and health service quality. These categories formed part of the main goals in decentralising health service policy in Mexico and also took the health standards set by the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization into account. RESULTS The results revealed that decentralising health policy in Baja California from 1996-2004 had not ensured this policy's core objectives: availability, accessibility, equity, and health service quality. CONCLUSIONS The population in Baja California having medical insurance had more resources than that part of the population lacking it, a factor without doubt influencing health services not providing equity, availability, accessibility and quality.