Moving towards a high-quality health system

Mexico has made significant progress on health in recent years. Life expectancy is up, infant mortality is down and, thanks to the introduction of the programme Seguro Popular, health care coverage has risen dramatically. Yet, progress has been slower in Mexico than in other OECD countries. For this reason, Mexico still remains well below OECD averages on a number of key performance indicators, including life expectancy, health spending, cardiovascular mortality and obesity. Low health care spending and high outof- pocket costs lead to inequalities in access to quality services and have impeded progress. The fragmentation of the health system also must be addressed in order to harmonise performance across sub-systems and states, and enhance its overall level. Obesity is a significant and growing public health problem in Mexico, resulting in high rates of diabetes and cardiovascular death. In order to deliver on the objectives set out for equality of care in the 2012 Pact for Mexico, significant reforms are necessary, including raising health spending in low-spending areas and on prevention, ensuring greater equality of care through a more harmonised system and expanded services, particularly in rural areas.