For Immediate Release Texas, Chihuahua Sign Binational Agreement in TB Fight Texas and Mexican health officials have signed an agreement to collaborate in fighting tuberculosis on both sides of the border between Texas and Chihuahua. The agreement was signed today in El Paso by Dr. David R. Smith, Texas Commissioner of Health, and Dr. Eduardo Rico Escobar, director general of the state of Chihuahua's coordinated public health services. Smith called the agreement realistic and logical.
Tuberculosis is a human problem.
The pact also was signed by several regional and local health officials from both sides of the border. Officials say the agreement, formally a memorandum of understanding, recognizes the disease control problems associated with movement and travel across the border and will give health authorities a better chance to find and test those exposed to tuberculosis and to see that persons being treated for tuberculosis actually complete their treatment. The agreement also includes provisions for training health care workers, improving data collection and analysis, and sharing laboratory services. According to the Texas Department of Health, the 1994 tuberculosis rate in Texas was 13.9 cases per 100,000 population. The rate for the state of Chihuahua was 23.8.