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UTB-CBIRD Report: “At The Crossroads” Economic Development 123 business and entrepreneurial know-how including manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution (Smilor, Gibson, and Kozmetsky, 1988). The leading U.S. centers in life science educational, research and commercialization are located in California and the North East. In response, Texas launched a Biotech Initiative and Governor Perry established a Council on Science and Biotechnology Development. Significant funds are being committed to research and laboratory expansion at the state’s major universities and funds are being dedicated to enhance technology transfer, product development, and small business development. Given major global, national, and statewide initiatives in the development and commercialization of life sciences what is the most reasonable strategy for Cameron County and the Lower Rio Grande Valley? While the Lower Rio Grande Valley currently has little life science infrastructure including large and small firms, R&D funding and innovation, and capital formation, the region is perhaps one of the world’s premiere “laboratories” to research and treat a broad range of healthcare challenges. The healthcare needs of the region are great and urgent. Healthcare problems and conditions that exist in the Lower Rio Grande Valley would be considered a public health crisis in most other regions of the developed world. These healthcare challenges reflect the peculiarities of the local population: its age composition and race structure, its employment opportunities and per capita income, and its geographic location. Poverty, malnutrition, infections and parasitic diseases, low education attainment, lack of needed quantities of fresh water, and inadequate housing all impact the existing healthcare system. Proximity to the Mexican border is an important factor affecting regional healthcare. More people cross the U.S. Mexico border than any other border in the world. There are over 8 million legal border crossings from Mexico into the United States each year and, last year, over one million undocumented Mexican migrants were apprehended while attempting to enter the United States illegally. As traffic backs up waiting for clearance through customs, vehicular exhaust accumulates. These fumes combine with those from the many industrial activities clustering near the border, and have a damaging impact on the air quality and the environment. Further, the high level of border crossings facilitates the transmission of infectious diseases by travelers into the border region and the interior of either country (Warner and Hopewell, 1999). 1 Bioterrorism is especially relevant to the border region as one can imagine such highly infectious diseases as smallpox traveling across the border posing grave implications for a first line of defense. The potentially explosive healthcare situation on both sides of the border, especially for the young and elderly, is exacerbated by a fast growing binational, bicultural population that tends to be undereducated and underemployed. Older Americans, or “Winter Texans” as they are commonly called, attracted by the temperate climate, recreational opportunities, and low cost of living, have retired to the Valley. Simultaneously, immigration from Mexico and beyond brings younger people North to the border region. The healthcare needs of the elderly, while the subject of continuing national debate, often benefit from paid 1 David Warner and Jillian Hopewell, “NAFTA and United States Mexico Border Health: The Impact on Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-Sponsored Programs” Center for Health Economics and Policy, The University of Texas Science Center at San Antonio, 1999. One Region -- One Future In general, the socioeconomic conditions, life-style characteristics, and disease categories of the border region reflect agrarian third world conditions rather than those of one of the world’s most modern nations. When you couple that thought with Cameron County’s multi-modal entry point to the nation and the related implications to homeland security… it would seem extremely desirable – militarily strategic, if you will -- to have a major medical research facility here.
UTB-CBIRD Report: “At The Crossroads” Economic Development 124 insurance systems that have given rise to growth in home-healthcare services. The young, on the other hand, represent a different set of healthcare needs that are too often unmet due to a lack of education and financial resources. On the one hand, U.S.-to-Mexico migration across the border for healthcare services is common. Mexican-Americans often prefer Mexico’s physicians, dentists, and pharmacists due to cultural familiarity and relatively low cost as well as a lack of U.S. healthcare insurance. In addition many U.S. residents travel to Mexico for medical and dental care and pharmaceutical purchases. On the other hand, while the Mexican Constitution defines healthcare as a right of citizenship, and while Mexican state and federal employees are ostensibly provided with comprehensive coverage, the reality is different. Public hospitals in fast-growing Matamoros have been unable to keep up with increasing demand and have seen budget cuts in recent years. As a result, middle and upper income Mexicans frequently look across the border to the U.S. for medical care and for every Matamoros resident who can afford American health services many more do not receive adequate preventive care and, as a result, are treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms. Cameron County is providing healthcare services on a regional basis and much of the patient load is coming from Mexico. While the State of Texas has more serious healthcare challenges than most of the U.S., South Texas has the most serious challenges of any region in the U.S. The border population has: ⇒ A higher percentage of residents under 18 and over 65 years old ⇒ Over 6 times the average regional Hispanic population of the US ⇒ Almost double the U.S. poverty rate -- per capita income is about two-thirds the national figure. ⇒ A percentage of persons with private insurance that is lower than elsewhere in the state and, in most counties, there is no local indigent care program for adults whose incomes exceed 22% of poverty. 1 ⇒ 12% fewer high school graduates and 4% fewer baccalaureate degrees on average ⇒ Higher unemployment and double the US percentage of population on food stamps Health indicators of particular concern are higher rates of tuberculosis and the emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis, increasing numbers of HIV/AIDS cases, and high rates of Hepatitis A and Diabetes as they represent serious healthcare challenges for a large population of poor adults and children with limited access to medical care. The prevalence for Type II diabetes, in adults under 65, is three to four times the national rate. Colonias and binational mobility are complicating factors for the delivery of adequate healthcare. 2 The historic growth of the maquiladora industry, on the Mexican side, along with explosive population growth and extreme fiscal tightening, have increased and continue to increase water infrastructure and wastewater needs in the region. Lack of adequate sanitation and water supply 1 ibid. 2 “NAFTA and United States/Mexico Border Health: The Impact on HRSA-Sponsored Programs,” by David Warner and Jillian Hopewell, Center for Health Economics and Policy, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, December 1999. The study area included eleven Texas counties: Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, Willacy and Zapata in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and Dimmit, Kinney, Maverick, Val Verde, Webb, and Zavala in the Mid-Rio Grande Area. The two areas are commonly referred to as Rio Grande Valley. They border nine “municipios” of the Mexican States of Tamaulipas and Coahuila. Una Region -- Un Futuro The economic demographics of the region -- low wages, high unemployment, large families – these all present barriers between the general populace and adequate health care.
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CAMERON COUNTY/MATAMOROS AT THE CRO
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For George and Ronya Kozmetsky Dedi
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There is no choice in whether this
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University of Texas at Brownsville;
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SECTION 4. EDUCATION & TRAINING INT
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SECTION 6. CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDA
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Tables 3. 1. Respondents' Professio
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SECTION 6 Figures 6. 1. Border Secu
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Cross-Border Patient Needs: Develop
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UTB/TSC Student Profile Wage Compar
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⇒ EDUCATION & TRAINING INTRODUCTI
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Percentage UTB-CBIRD Report: “At
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Page 183 and 184: APPENDICES
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APPENDIX E. TRANSPORTATION INFRASTR
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Table E.3 indicates that while sout
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volumes. The Port of San Diego also
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The Port of Brownsville has over 33
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cargo operation and continued devel
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⇒ Top Five User Requirements 1. I
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Duca, John V. and Mine K. Yucel.
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Rylander, Carol Keeton. Texas Regio
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PROJECT PARTNERS
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UTB-CBIRD The Cross Border Institut
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IC² Institute, The University of T
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