AMPATH Mexico

Submitted by: Beth Felker

AMPATH/MAPAS México Priorities:

Evaluate, define, and care for NCDs that Mexico and Texas share

• AMPATH/MAPAS México clinical team continues to conduct household level visits along with the promotoras for early detection and follow-up for NCDs and prepare for community health outreach in the last week of March.

Provide care and follow-up to the main causes of morbidity and mortality in the state of Puebla

• The AMPATH/MAPAS México clinical team continues collaborating with the primary health care center to provide follow-up for patients who have new diagnosis/positive screening results during the multidisciplinary health outreach and providing home-based care for patients with advanced chronic diseases.
• The Clinical team has been conducting a medicine donation drive locally at BUAP to support the health outreaches and care activities. Recent BUAP media coverage (from 3:17-5:54): https://www.facebook.com/TVBUAP/videos/1098786552261221/
• This article about NCD focus was posted to AMPATH/MAPAS México website: https://www.ampathmexico.org/news-blog-feed/program-aims-to-address-non-communicable-diseases-in-underserved-communities-through-training-screening-and-access-to-care

Participate meaningfully in addressing the social determinants of health and translate health promotion and healthcare provision to the community

• The SFX school entered the Nutrition Working Group school garden project in a state-level competition for sustainable school projects and passed the first stage of the competition.

Build capacity in public health and healthcare delivery

• The AMPATH/MAPAS México clinical team has been providing training for all social service trainees (medico pasantes) assigned to BUAP on how to effectively engage with the community and provide screening and care in health outreaches.
• February 23-24, 2025: The AMPATH/MAPAS México Clinical team implented 2 days of workshops to build hands-on skills in diabetes screening and education amongst community health promoters.

Monthly seminars:

• February 27, 2025 93 People attended the seminar on lung cancer prevention, detection, and treatment in Mexico and Texas. Click here to register.
• March 27, 2025 6-7:30pm CT. Dr. José Luis Ródriguez Sánchez of BUAP and Dr. Erin Rodriguez of UT Austin will share their experience with psychology in Mexico and Texas. Click here to Register & share »

Pediatrics: Late March-April 2 Dell pediatric residents are participating in 3 week Medical Spanish and Cultural Immersion elective in Puebla. The pediatric residency program has opened applications for their next cycle.

Psychiatry: 2 Dell Med School psychiatry faculty visited Puebla in March to meet with BUAP counterparts and to plan to launch two new projects as part of the Mental Health Education Working Group.

UT Nursing will host their first BUAP student for three weeks in June 2025.

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Train and research to elevate the primary care system and public health

• Feb 20-23, 2025 CUGH: Rebecca Cook, M.D., presented on Mexico care and education initiatives alongside BUAP medical student pasantes. Dell Med students Roba Abousaway, presented a poster on Dell Med’s bilateral exchange program and and Lauren Contreras, and Alia Pederson presented a reflection on language learning innovations. They joined representatives of the wider AMPATH Global team to present ongoing work across all partner sites and accepted a CUGH award for global health leadership.
• March 4-7, 2025: CONGISP / the INSP (National Institute for Public Health) Conference in Public Health Research in Cuernavaca, Mexico: Twelve people from AMPATH/MAPAS México attended and shared four poster presentations on AMPATH/MAPAS México projects.
• May 2025: Society of Internal Medicine: 2 AMPATH/MAPAS México project abstracts were accepted to present at this conference: one related to an educational intervention to improve socioemotional skills and competency in community engagement for social service trainees and another related to ecological stoves in rural communities.