The goal of the two day forum is to improve public health policies forimmigrant populations, as well as to enhance working relations among healthauthorities from participating countries to improve the health and well-beingof Latino communities across the United States. 

?We are honored to have the First Lady of Mexico join us in New Mexico to discusshow we can improve the health of people living on both sides of our sharedborder,? Governor Richardson said.  ?Latinos are the fastestgrowing population in the United States, and it is critical that ourcountries continue to find new ways to ensure their health and safety.?

The forum will feature information on infectious diseases such astuberculosis and HIV, obesity, diabetes, occupational safety and health, and improvinghealth care access and insurance coverage for immigrants.  The forum is being organized bythe New Mexico Department of Health, the RobertWoodJohnsonFoundationCenterfor Health Policy at the University ofNew Mexico, the Universityof California Berkeley Health Initiativefor the Americasand the New Mexico Health Policy Commission.

Governor Richardson will give the inaugural remarks at 8:30 a.m. on October6.  Joining Governor Richardson for the inauguration will be First Lady of Mexico, Margarita Zavala, Dr. JoséAngel Córdova, Secretary of Health for Mexico, Dr. Alfredo Vigil, NewMexico?s Secretary of Health, Dr. John Stobo, Senior Vice President ofHealth Sciences and Services at the University of California, Carmen Laspina,National Director of Health for Ecuador, Carlos García de Alba, of theInstitute of Mexicans Living Abroad, and  Julia Bryan, Acting Associate Directorfor the Office of Rural Health Policy of the U.S. Department of Health andHuman Services.

The Policy Forum also serves as the official launch event forBinational Health Week, one of the largest mobilization efforts in the Americasto improve the health and well-being of underserved immigrants and migrants ofMexican and Latin American origin.

Co-sponsors include: Mexico?sSecretariats of Health and Foreign Affairs, the Secretariats of Foreign Affairsof Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombiaand Peru, the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services, the New Mexico Department of Health,the Council of Mexican Federations in North America, and the Health Initiativeof the Americas.

To register for the forum, go online to https://www.regonline.com/binationalpolicy.

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Alarie Ray-Garcia

Communications Director

Office of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson

State Capitol,

Santa Fe, New Mexico87501

Office:505-476-2248

Cell:505-231-7350