props to mexico!

Two weeks ago Mauricio Hernandez, deputy of the Ministry of Health in Mexico, gave a lecture on this very H1N1 topic as guest lecturer of the Institute of Global Health at USC. From what he shared in this lecture and in the hour long question and answer time held with PM564 I was very impressed with the honest response of Mexico regarding the H1N1 outbreak. Mauricio Hernandez conveyed Mexico’s quick response of its medical personnel of the increased number of flu cases. Procedures, which were already in place for reporting suspicious outbreaks, were activated and patient samples were sent off to the lab for analysis and places of gathering were closed for quarantine. Mauricio Hernandez, displayed transparency to the WHO regarding the outbreaks in Mexico, confirming the disease only 10 days after the initial reported outbreak. It must be noted this was done with lightening speed and great integrity compared to China and the Avian Flu pandemic that occurred a few years back. I believe these events testify to the effective pandemic response plans of the Mexico health system in response to infectious disease. Mauricio Hernandez did comment on a lack of vaccines, which are not direct a result of being unprepared but rather due to world politics; this is a tragedy, in my opinion.

As all health care systems, Mexico has lots of room for improvement. During the question-and-answer time Mauricio commented on how the Ministry of Health lacks authority with decentralized state jurisdiction. The health care system needs improvement and stronger regulations controlling the expenditures of the budgeted health care money. He mentioned States often misuse the budgeted health care money for other state expenses. Despite these needed improvements, overall, I was impressed with Mexico’s quick response, their transparency and the implementation of their action plan.

Immediate action & planning ahead

I think in this scenario, Mexico was kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. H1N1 did not originate in the country--it actually originated here in California and then spread to Mexico--but they will forever suffer the stigmatism that they were the ones who subsequently "infected" the rest of the world. In terms of how Mexico handled the flu outbreak, I think they went about it in a very logical manner. They shut down many businesses, schools, and churches--basically places where a lot of people would congregate--and quarantined those who had the illness. They issued warnings to their own citizens traveling out of Mexico to be aware of not spreading anything outside of the country. They were also extremely cooperative with the international community and the WHO in providing information about the outbreak and what was going on in-country to contain it.

Mauricio Hernandez, deputy of the Ministry of Health in Mexico, was here at USC a few weeks ago and he mentioned that they were able to go about containing the disease and maintaining a certain level of public calm because they had emergency plans in place in the event of an outbreak such as this. There wasn't much confusion on the part of government and administration because there was actually a protocol that was set forth long ago, and all they had to do was follow it. I think this was prudent planning on their part; and evidently, it came into good use.