Mexico
Mexico is a country vulnerable to natural disasters, like earthquakes and storms. Income inequality has left some of the population vulnerable and can cause challenges like accessing healthcare.
Improving access to life-saving healthcare
More than 5 billion people in the world lack access to safe, affordable, and quality surgical, anesthesia, and obstetric care.1 The Canadian Red Cross has partnered with the Centre for Global Surgery at McGill University, and the University of British Columbia’s Branch for International Surgical Care for the Canadian Collaborative Centre of Excellence for Global Humanitarian Surgical Care (CCCEGHSC) – the goal of which is to create a stronger humanitarian global surgery community.
Since then, CCCEGHSC has partnered with the Mexican Red Cross to improve both the access to and quality of surgical care available. In Mexico, this is being implemented through:
- Data collection through a digital trauma registry app, which has been piloted to capture the kinds of trauma cases that are being seen at the Mexican Red Cross Hospital Polanco in Mexico City
- Collaborative training
- Shared learning through a surgical residency exchange program
- Virtual surgical rounds which consists of regular trauma case exchange and discussions between the University of British Columbia, McGill University Health Centre, and Mexican Red Cross Hospital Polanco
Canadians can help support programs like this through a donation to the International Programs Fund
1 Meara, J. G., Leather, A. J., Hagander, L., et al. Global Surgery 2030: evidence and solutions for achieving health, welfare, and economic development. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology 2015;213:338-340.