AMPATH/MAPAS México is poised to combat diabetes and related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in resource-limited communities in Puebla, Mexico.

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin, the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla and community partners from the Fondo Comunitario Mónica Gendreau-Fundación Comunitaria de Puebla kicked off a school gardening and hydroponics research study in a middle school in a rural community near Puebla, Mexico .

The first-ever psychiatry residents in the Spanish Language Immersion elective also enjoyed host family time in Puebla and teaching Intro to Psychiatry for BUAP students.

As part of the AMPATH/MAPAS México partnership, the community health promoter or “promotora comunitaria de salud" initiative launched in 2023 with $500,000 in funding support from Astellas Pharma Inc., in alignment with the company’s “Access to Health” initiative.

Pandemics and virtual connections know no borders. While an in-person summit on shared health challenges is currently impossible, on Nov. 17, 2020, three institutions united to discuss their on-going work in health equity and thoughts on COVID-19’s transnational impact in Texas and Mexico.

In 2019, the team conducted a community needs assessment that was supported by the President’s Award for Global Learning at The University of Texas at Austin. An abstract that described this assessment and its results titled “Understanding community health needs and forging an academic global health partnership in Puebla, Mexico” was published in 2020 in The Lancet. The assessment is informing many of the initial initiatives of the new AMPATH partnership.