They must travel up to three hours to access health services

The National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval) has announced that there are areas in the country where low-income residents have to travel up to three hours to access health services.

According to data from the Provincial Poverty Analysis Program (PATP), in the country’s 142 municipalities, half of the population had at least an hour or more walk from a first-level health facility.

“In 126 of these, more than half of its population was in poverty in 2020. These municipalities are concentrated, mainly, in the Isthmus region and in the Sierra north and south of Oaxaca, as well as in the Mixtec region of Conivale said.

He also confirmed that in 11 of these locations, half of the residents were three or more hours’ walk from these health centres.

Regarding institutions providing the second level of health care (emergency care, hospitalization and procedures of medium complexity), Konival emphasized that “by 2020, residents in 1531 municipalities took an hour or more to travel on foot to a health institution of this level .

Of these, 746 (48.7%) over 70% of the population live in poverty; The majority are located in Oaxaca (376), Puebla (113) and Veracruz (73),” organ analysis revealed.

education

The Konival report also confirmed that in 2020, in 35 municipalities, more than 30% of residents aged 6-11 lived in towns within a 30-minute or more walk of a public primary school.

Whereas in 113 municipalities, more than 50% of the population lived in areas within a 30-minute walk of a public high school (6 out of 10 in Oaxaca). Of these 113 municipalities, in 47, 80% or more of their residents were in poverty and 52 recorded 30% or more of the population with educational delay.

Financial Inclusion

Similarly, the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy indicated that in 2020 there were a total of 602 municipalities in Mexico without access points to financial services (branches or messengers), 22.3% less than in 2015.

“The lack of financial infrastructure occurs mainly in rural areas that are difficult to access, in small municipalities in terms of population or indigenous people and with high proportions of the population in poverty located in Oaxaca, Puebla, Yucatan, Chiapas and Veracruz” Report added.

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