Mexico Ranks Fourth in Personalized Healthcare in Latin America

Mexico ranked fourth out of 10 Latin American countries in personalized health in Future Proofing Healthcare’s Index Study due to its “solid foundations,” signaling preparation for a possibly shift towards innovative wellness programs in the near future.

The Latin American Index ranked the health systems of 10 countries in the region on key performance indicators of personalized health systems. From best to worst, the countries ranked were Uruguay, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Panama, Peru and Ecuador. Placements were achieved by ranking each country’s health information, health services, personalized technologies and policy context. Of these, Mexico ranked second, second, seventh and fourth, respectively, with the study noting its widespread use of electronic health records (EHRs), patient access to personal data and wide implementation of telemedicine.

Personalized healthcare presents a promising future for Mexican medicine and offers opportunities to more effectively treat some of the country’s most prevalent diseases, such as childhood leukemia and diabetes, by providing treatment unique to each patient, taking into account his or her medical history. To make this promising future a reality, the Index points to cancer registries and data infrastructure as the areas the country should focus on to improve its healthcare services. In both, the country currently ranks ninth. Further investment in research and development is also encouraged, as the country ranks seventh.

Founded by the Swiss multinational healthcare company Roche, Future Proofing Healthcare researches and collects global data to compare healthcare systems worldwide to encourage them to improve.

Currently, the country leads Latin America in genomics, telehealth, wearables and patient data but it is second-to-last in healthcare coverage and seventh in internet access. As the study points out, achievements in technological medicine are only as important as the amount of the population they are able to reach.

“Further improvements are needed in healthcare coverage and internet access, as well as the population’s willingness to adopt connected health devices,” the study asserts. “Mexico has several strengths including active engagement of its academic community on personalized healthcare and the degree of willingness to undertake public-private partnerships.”

As Country President of Novartis Fernando Cruz told MBN, Mexico’s basic medicine scheme can speed up the supply of medicines to different public health entities to ensure patients’ accelerated access to healthcare. However, almost one third of Mexico’s population does not count with high-speed internet access. As the future of medicine continues to be shaped by technological advances, such as personalized healthcare, ensuring the Mexican public is included in this future might be determined through its overall access to technology.