Governor Bill Richardson to Host International Health Policy Forum for Latinos with Officials from Several Latin America Countries

Press Release

Governor Bill Richardson will host the ninth annual Binational Policy Forum on
Migration and Health that will feature Mexico's First Lady, Margarita Zavala, and more than 300 health representatives from the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Central and South America.

The forum will be held October 5 and 6 at the Hilton Santa Fe Resort at Buffalo Thunder.

The goal of the two day forum is to improve public health policies for immigrant populations, as well as to enhance working relations among health authorities from participating countries to improve the health and well-being of Latino communities across the United States.

"We are honored to have the First Lady of Mexico join us in New Mexico to discuss how we can improve the health of people living on both sides of our shared border," Governor Richardson said. "Latinos are the fastest growing population in the United States, and it is critical that our countries continue to find new ways to ensure their health and safety."

The forum will feature information on infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV, obesity, diabetes, occupational safety and health, and improving health care access and insurance coverage for immigrants. The forum is being organized by the New Mexico Department of Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at the University of New
Mexico, the University of California Berkeley Health Initiative for the Americas and the New Mexico Health Policy Commission.

Governor Richardson will give the inaugural remarks at 8:30 a.m. on October 6. Joining Governor Richardson for the inauguration will be First Lady of Mexico, Margarita Zavala, Dr. José Angel Córdova, Secretary of Health for Mexico, Dr. Alfredo Vigil, New Mexico's Secretary of Health, Dr. John Stobo, Senior Vice President of Health Sciences and Services at the University of California, Carmen Laspina, National Director of Health for Ecuador, Carlos
García de Alba, of the Institute of Mexicans Living Abroad, and Julia Bryan, Acting Associate Director for the Office of Rural Health Policy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The Policy Forum also serves as the official launch event for Binational Health Week, one of the largest mobilization efforts in the Americas to improve the health and well-being of underserved immigrants and migrants of Mexican and Latin American origin.

Co-sponsors include: Mexico's Secretariats of Health and Foreign Affairs, the Secretariats of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia and Peru, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the New Mexico Department of Health, the Council of Mexican Federations in North America, and the Health Initiative of the Americas.

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