Atlas of Governance of Public Health in Mexico
The Atlas of Governance of Public Health in Mexico is a Geographic Information System (GIS) for the visualization, consultation, and downloading of health related thematic maps and cartography generated and assembled by USMEX. The project has been made possible by the generous support of the Hewlett Foundation The goal of this site is to allow for the free access of the geographic assets collected by various Mexican agencies and organizations within a single platform that allows for the analysis and display of health processes in their geographic context. Information is made available to both the general public and specialized researchers through the following elements:
- Graphic views of general information, analytical narratives and health maps
- Detailed information of health outcomes and interventions at the municipal level
- Information at the locality level regarding census characteristics and accessibility of health infrastructure
- Metadata on the available cartography
- Downloading of information as comma delimited text files and shapefiles
The governance of public health in Mexico has been a “black box” intermediating between seemingly well-designed federal and state health programs that seek to improve the quality and coverage of health provision and services, and public health outcomes. Citizens care enormously about the provision of clinics, vaccines, drinking water and sewerage systems, to name just a few of the health related public goods and services provided in Mexico by various levels of government. But how these services come to be produced is often obscured by insufficient transparency and information flows, a complex web of intergovernmental finances involving federal, state and municipal governments, lack of coordination between several public health systems, weak electoral incentives, and decision-making and oversight processes that are opaque at best.
