The Past, Present, and Future of Reproductive Health Surveillance in the US-Mexico Border Region

This issue of Preventing Chronic Disease gives special attention to a recent binational effort to develop novel reproductive health surveillance methods in the USMexico border region. The effort began in 2000, when the US and Mexican governments established the United States-Mexico Border Health Commission (USMBHC), specifically to provide international and collaborative leadership to improve health and quality of life in the region (1). The commission created shared US-Mexico health objectives for 2010 related to reproductive health and chronic disease, such as reductions in rates of pregnancy among adolescents and in rates of infant deaths, decreases in rates of diabetes and in rates of cervical and breast cancer mortality, and increases in rates of prenatal care (2).