 U.S. Senator Tom Udall |  U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich |
(Deming) – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich announced Friday they have introduced a bill to improve the health and economies of border communities and strengthen national security.
The Border Health Security Act of 2015 would strengthen binational collaboration to address border health issues, and establish grant programs to improve public health infrastructure and infectious disease monitoring.
A media release said many residents of New Mexico's border communities face unique public health challenges due to a high volume of cross-border traffic, distances from larger cities, inadequate roads and transportation infrastructure, deficient water and sewer systems, poor access to health care services, high unemployment rates, low educational attainment and high rates of dangerous diseases.
Udall and Heinrich's bill seeks to address these issues by improving social and economic well-being in border areas, improving public health preparedness, and increasing access to funding for long-term investments in economic development in border communities.
Among other things, Udall and Heinrich’s bill would effectively reauthorize the Early Warning Infectious Disease Surveillance program, which was created in 2003 to provide states along the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders with funding to detect, identify and report outbreaks of infectious diseases. Funding for the program stopped in 2012.
The legislation is supported by the New Mexico Department of Health and the American Public Health Association.
The Border Health Security Act of 2015 would strengthen binational collaboration to address border health issues, and establish grant programs to improve public health infrastructure and infectious disease monitoring.
A media release said many residents of New Mexico's border communities face unique public health challenges due to a high volume of cross-border traffic, distances from larger cities, inadequate roads and transportation infrastructure, deficient water and sewer systems, poor access to health care services, high unemployment rates, low educational attainment and high rates of dangerous diseases.
Udall and Heinrich's bill seeks to address these issues by improving social and economic well-being in border areas, improving public health preparedness, and increasing access to funding for long-term investments in economic development in border communities.
Among other things, Udall and Heinrich’s bill would effectively reauthorize the Early Warning Infectious Disease Surveillance program, which was created in 2003 to provide states along the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders with funding to detect, identify and report outbreaks of infectious diseases. Funding for the program stopped in 2012.
The legislation is supported by the New Mexico Department of Health and the American Public Health Association.
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