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Department of Health and Human Services   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 25, 2000

CONTACT:
OPHS Press Office
(202) 205-1842

U.S. and Mexico Sign Memorandum of Agreement to Establish the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission

The United States and Mexico have reached a formal agreement to establish the U.S. - Mexico Border Health Commission (BHC). In Mexico City, Mexico, Minister of Health Jose Antonio Gonzalez Fernandez signed the commission agreement yesterday. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala signed the agreement on July 14. The commission will serve as a forum to discuss shared health concerns and find ways to improve the health status of people living along the border.

"I firmly believe the Border Health Commission is destined to be one of our most successful, innovative and creative endeavors," said Secretary Shalala, who will serve as the chair of the U.S. section of the commission. "The BHC's efforts will build a strong foundation to improve health throughout the border region."

Additionally, Mexican Minister Gonzalez Fernandez, the chair for the Mexican section, announced several appointments to the commission yesterday. They include Dr. Federico Ortiz Quesada, who will coordinate the Mexican section, and the following state health officials from the Mexican border states: Bertha Cristina Castellanos Muņoz (Coahuila), Jesus Zacarias Villarreal Perez (Nuevo Leon), Hector Lopez Gonzalez (Tamaulipas), Federico Saracho Weber (Chihuahua), Carlos Alberto Astorga Othon (Baja), and Manuel Robles-Linares Negrette (Sonora).

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Jeffrey Davidow and Dr. Rosemarie Marshall Johnson, a U.S. member of the BHC, were also in attendance at yesterday's signing ceremony in Mexico City.

On Dec. 15, 1999, President Clinton appointed the members of the U.S. section. They are: Amanda Aquirre, Jeffrey Brandon, Carlos Rene Gonzalez, Rosemarie Marshall Johnson, Laurance N. Nickey, Blair Sadler, Catherine Torres, Paul Villas, and the principal state health officials from the four U.S. border states: William Reynolds Archer (Texas), Diana M. Bonta (California), Catherine R. Eden (Arizona), and J. Alex Valdez (New Mexico).

In 1994, the BHC was authorized by the United States-Mexico Border Health Commission Act (Public Law 103-400).
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