TY - JOUR
T1 - The impact of COVID-19 and access to health services in the Hispanic/Mexican population living in the United States
AU - the network of agencies and promoters of the Ventanillas de Salud and Mobile Health Units
AU - Rangel Gómez, María Gudelia
AU - Alcocer Varela, Jorge
AU - Salazar Jiménez, Saúl
AU - Olivares Marín, Leonardo
AU - Rosales, Cecilia
N1 - Funding Information:
The initial funding for this project was provided by the Mexican Government.
Funding Information:
Agencies and Health Promoters of the Ventanillas de Salud and Mobile Health Units network.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 Rangel Gómez, Alcocer Varela, Salazar Jiménez, Olivares Marín and Rosales.
PY - 2022/11/25
Y1 - 2022/11/25
N2 - Introduction: The United States is home to 10.5 million undocumented immigrants, of which 5 out of 10 are Mexican or Central American. Their immigration status is an obstacle to secure employment that provides labor benefits such as sick leave and health insurance. Living through the global pandemic in the U.S. had a negative impact on this vulnerable population's mental and physical health. They avoided seeking primary or hospital care fearful that they were undocumented and uninsured. The services provided by the Ventanillas de Salud (VDS) “Health Windows” mitigated this pandemic's negative impact and have become an important source to support and increase access to health services among the immigrant community. Methods: De-identified data from a database system called the Continuous Information System and Health Reports of Mexicans in the United States (SICRESAL-MX) to perform this secondary analysis. The descriptive analysis describes socio-demographic, epidemiological, and situational characteristics of COVID-19. Results: Between January 2020 and July 2021, the VDS and UMS provided 11.5 million individual services to just over 4.3 million people. The main health conditions are overweight and obesity, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol and glucose levels. Between March 2020 to July 2021 a total of 2,481,834 specific services related to COVID-19 were offered. Discussion: The Mexican migrant community in the United States is in a vulnerable situation, largely due to its immigration status which limits their access to health and human services, including primary health care services. Many of them have suffered from chronic diseases since before the pandemic, generating difficulties in monitoring the ailments and exacerbating their conditions.
AB - Introduction: The United States is home to 10.5 million undocumented immigrants, of which 5 out of 10 are Mexican or Central American. Their immigration status is an obstacle to secure employment that provides labor benefits such as sick leave and health insurance. Living through the global pandemic in the U.S. had a negative impact on this vulnerable population's mental and physical health. They avoided seeking primary or hospital care fearful that they were undocumented and uninsured. The services provided by the Ventanillas de Salud (VDS) “Health Windows” mitigated this pandemic's negative impact and have become an important source to support and increase access to health services among the immigrant community. Methods: De-identified data from a database system called the Continuous Information System and Health Reports of Mexicans in the United States (SICRESAL-MX) to perform this secondary analysis. The descriptive analysis describes socio-demographic, epidemiological, and situational characteristics of COVID-19. Results: Between January 2020 and July 2021, the VDS and UMS provided 11.5 million individual services to just over 4.3 million people. The main health conditions are overweight and obesity, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol and glucose levels. Between March 2020 to July 2021 a total of 2,481,834 specific services related to COVID-19 were offered. Discussion: The Mexican migrant community in the United States is in a vulnerable situation, largely due to its immigration status which limits their access to health and human services, including primary health care services. Many of them have suffered from chronic diseases since before the pandemic, generating difficulties in monitoring the ailments and exacerbating their conditions.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Mexican
KW - United States
KW - diseases
KW - health
KW - immigrants
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U2 - 10.3389/fpubh.2022.977792
DO - 10.3389/fpubh.2022.977792
M3 - Article
C2 - 36504982
AN - SCOPUS:85143773591
SN - 2296-2565
VL - 10
JO - Frontiers in Public Health
JF - Frontiers in Public Health
M1 - 977792
ER -