The Ministry of Health of Q. Roo and Carlos Slim Foundation Endorse Commitment to Ensure Quality in Maternal and Child Care
Quintana Roo Health Minister Alejandra Aguirre Crespo visited Carlos Slim Foundation (CSF) with the objective of deepen, endorse and extend the successful collaboration between both organizations, which has been carried out for some years to improve quality of maternal and child health care.
Currently, Quintana Roo has two Maternal Health Networks located in the region of José María Morelos and another in the poorest area of the municipality of Cancún; where more than 1,500 pregnant women have been properly cared, evaluated and monitored, in the health centers of these areas.
Originally, only 19% of pregnant women in these areas were enrolled at the first level of care. Currently, pregnant women timely enrolled into the health system, using the CSF’s AMANECE, has increased to 59%.
However, there are still many tasks to be carried out, especially regarding teenage pregnancy decline; since in these Networks, 32.5% of pregnant women enrolled are in this age group. This situation is compounded by risk factors generally detected in Quintana Roo women, including the following:
- Increased number of previous pregnancies, women who have had 3 children or more.
- Excessive weight gain during pregnancy, increasing the risk of developing gestational diabetes.
The joint work of the Ministry of Health of Quintana Roo and CSF has resulted in timely detection of pregnancies (usually during the first trimester) and their care in health centers based on AMANECE; ensuring a better quality of care, and thus avoiding the deaths of both mothers and their babies.
During the meeting, both parties addressed their joint strategies for prevention and care of chronic diseases. CSF and state of Quintana Roo are already working towards these objectives through stablishing Networks of Excellence. In the Networks located in Cancún, 4 Health Centers participate, in which more than 9,000 Integrated Measurements for Timely Detection (Mediciones Integradas para la Detección Oportuna, MIDO®) have already been carried out to detect prediabetes, diabetes, preobesity, obesity, prehypertension, and hypertension.
AMANECE is a model developed by Carlos Slim Foundation, which seeks to combat and reduce high maternal and infant mortality rates through the use of technologies and by integrating centers and hospitals in Maternal Health Networks, providing personalized care before, during and after childbirth to safeguard the lives of pregnant mothers and their newborns.
Casalud is a comprehensive model that seeks to solve the most pressing challenges in Public Health in Mexico by timely identifying non-communicable chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity, through the reengineering of services in first contact health centers.
Through MIDO®, a screening protocol has been established for five risk factors: weight, blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol and renal function, to determine the physical state of the individuals and identify if they have or are at risk of having a non-communicable disease.
Currently the model is part of the National Strategy against Diabetes and Obesity, operating in 27 states of the republic.