In 1997, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Mexican Secretariat of Health, and border health officials began the development of the Border Infectious Disease Surveillance (BIDS) project, a surveillance system for infectious diseases along the U.S.-Mexico border. During a 3-year period, a binational team implemented an active, sentinel surveillance system for hepatitis and febrile exanthems at 13 clinical sites. The network developed surveillance protocols, trained nine surveillance coordinators, established serologic testing at four Mexican border laboratories, and created agreements for data sharing and notification of selected diseases and outbreaks. BIDS facilitated investigations of dengue fever in Texas-Tamaulipas and measles in California–Baja California. BIDS demonstrates that a binational effort with local, state, and federal participation can create a regional surveillance system that crosses an international border. Reducing administrative, infrastructure, and political barriers to cross-border public health collaboration will enhance the effectiveness of disease prevention projects such as BIDS.

Purpose Hispanic women living on the US-México border experience health disparities, are less likely to access cervical cancer screening services, and have a higher rate of cervical cancer incidence compared to women living in non-border areas. Here we investigate the effects of an intervention delivered by community health workers (CHWs, known as lay health educators or Promotores de Salud in Spanish) on rates of cervical cancer screening in Hispanic women who were out of compliance with recommended screening guidelines. Methods Hispanic women out of compliance with screening guidelines, attending clinics in southern New México (NM), were identified using medical record review. All eligible women were offered the intervention. The study was conducted between 2009 and 2011, and data were analyzed in 2012. Setting/participants - 162 Hispanic women, resident in NM border counties, aged 29-80 years, who had not had a Pap test within the past 3 years. Intervention - A CHW-led, culturally appropriate, computerized education intervention. Main outcome measures - The percentage of women who underwent cervical cancer screening within 12 months of receiving the intervention. Change in knowledge of, and attitudes towards cervical cancer and screening as assessed by a baseline and follow-up questionnaire. Results 76.5% of women had a Pap test after the intervention. Women displayed increased knowledge about cervical cancer screening and about HPV. Conclusions A culturally appropriate promotora-led intervention is successful in increasing cervical cancer screening in at-risk Hispanic women on the US-México border.

Medically underserved populations in the US continue to experience higher cancer burdens of incidence, mortality and other cancer-related outcomes. It is imperative to understand how health inequities experienced by diverse population groups may contribute to our increasing unequal cancer burdens and disparate outcomes. The National Cancer Institute convened a diverse group of scientists to discuss research challenges and opportunities for cancer epidemiology in medically underserved and understudied populations. This report summarizes salient issues and discuss five recommendations from the group, including the next steps required to better examine and address cancer burden in US among our rapidly increasing diverse and understudied populations.

Latinos are under-represented in biomedical research conducted in the United States (US), impeding disease prevention and treatment efforts for this growing demographic group. We gathered perceptions of biomedical research and gauged willingness to participate through elicitation interviews and focus groups with Latinos living on the US-Mexico border. Themes that emerged included a strong willingness to participate in biomedical studies and suggested that Latinos may be under-represented due to limited formal education and access to health information, not distrust. The conflation of research and clinical care was common and motivated participation. Outreach efforts and educational interventions to inform Latinos of participation opportunities and clarify harms and benefits associated with biomedical research participation will be essential to maintain trust within Latino communities.

The purpose of this study was to examine the breast cancer prevention information seeking behaviors among rural women, the prevalence of Internet, cell, and text use, and interest to receive breast cancer prevention information cell and text messages. While growing literature for breast cancer information sources supports the use of the Internet, little is known about breast cancer prevention information seeking behaviors among rural women and mobile technology. Using a cross-sectional study design, data were collected using a survey. McGuire's Input-Ouput Model was used as the framework. Self-reported data were obtained from a convenience sample of 157 women with a mean age of 60 (SD = 12.12) at a rural New Mexico imaging center. Common interpersonal information sources were doctors, nurses, and friends and common channel information sources were television, magazines, and Internet. Overall, 87% used cell phones, 20% had an interest to receive cell phone breast cancer prevention messages, 47% used text messaging, 36% had an interest to receive text breast cancer prevention messages, and 37% had an interest to receive mammogram reminder text messages. Bivariate analysis revealed significant differences between age, income, and race/ethnicity and use of cell phones or text messaging. There were no differences between age and receiving text messages or text mammogram reminders. Assessment of health information seeking behaviors is important for community health educators to target populations for program development. Future research may identify additional socio-cultural differences.