Border Health: Its Hidden Issues and Implications for Nursing Care

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to enhance nursing care for populations living on the U.S.—Mexico border by broadening nursing knowledge of related health issues. The health status of the individuals and families who reside on the border are negatively affected by many factors. These include population growth, health care access, poverty, high chronic disease rates, environment-related problems, and communicable diseases. Binational efforts, projects, and attention over the last 15 years have begun to acknowledge and attend to issues causing health challenges. Nursing’s contribution in the literature has focused on environmental health problems, such as childhood lead exposure. This article will review the status of border health, barriers to health care, and issues related to health care utilization. Implications for nursing practice and nursing research related to border health of individuals and families will be identified. Knowledge of these factors is the first step for nurses to address the unique problems of this population, which on the U.S. side of the border typically involves the uninsured and immigrant populations.