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"The new UT-San Antonio research center will help us develop effective strategies for attracting the right mix of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals to serve the people who live in the border region," Secretary Thompson said. "The grant is part of our broader commitment to improving access to health care for children and families in this underserved area."

The new regional center is part of the Border Health Initiative, led by the department's Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), to improve health care access for people in the U.S.-Mexico border region. In the past four years, HRSA has invested $280 million to improve health care along the border, including roughly $83 million in fiscal year 2001. Those resources have provided residents with primary health care, maternal and child health care services, HIV/AIDS care and other services, and also have supported programs to train and place health professionals in the region.

The border region is characterized by high poverty, poor environmental conditions and significant health challenges. Tuberculosis at the border, for example, is six times the national rate; measles and mumps that could be prevented by vaccine are twice the U.S. average. About 3 million of 11 million border residents have no health insurance. Many residents live in unincorporated communities that lack running water, sewers, storm drainage and electricity.

The new regional center at UT-San Antonio will assess some of the most pressing health workforce issues in the region. These include examining regional staffing levels for physicians, nurses, dentists, public health, mental health and allied health professionals; placement of these professionals throughout the region; training needs; and recruitment and retention.

"The agreement recognizes the crisis in health care border residents face and the role local researchers can play in improving conditions," HRSA Acting Administrator Elizabeth M. Duke said. "The first step in improving access to care in the region is to find out how many health care workers we have, what disciplines they work in, and where they are located. Then we can put together a strategy to encourage providers to work where the need for their services is greatest."

Secretary Thompson also announced that HHS will renew competitive cooperative agreements at the four existing regional centers -- the University of California at San Francisco, the University of Illinois at Chicago, the State University of New York at Albany, and the University of Washington, Seattle -- that conduct workforce studies for much of the rest of the United States. For more information, visit bhpr.hrsa.gov/healthworkforce/ on the Web.

A HRSA fact sheet with more information about the Border Health Initiative is available at newsroom.hrsa.gov/factsheets/borderhealth2001.htm.

In addition, HRSA is making copies of Diario de Salud, a diary for expectant mothers who speak Spanish, with an updated vaccination chart. The diary was developed to help expectant mothers have a healthy baby and presents information about childbirth from conception through the age of 2. It includes fill-in-the-blank forms that the mother can complete as her pregnancy progresses. Copies are available by calling 1-888-ASK-HRSA.

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