Comondú

The rural municipality of Comondú has the lowest rate of cancerous tumors in the state.  One area of concern is the increase in deaths from complications associated with AIDS, as it did not appear amongst the principal causes up until 1998, and then appeared as the fifteenth highest mortality indicator in 2000.  This may be caused by in-migration from mainland Mexico and Central America, but no confirming studies have been completed to date.

Comondú also has high levels of infant mortality (ranking second in the state in deaths of children under five) mainly from preventable diseases and resulting from issues with sanitation, high levels of diabetes types 1 and 2, hypertension, prenatal complications, and car accidents (ranking first in the state with 24.7 for every 100,000 inhabitants).

Due to the small, dispersed population of the Comondú municipality, improving health services will require participation by voluntary health advocates, nonprofits, and community associations.  This will be critical as rural leaders are concerned with the lack of access to healthcare in the form of doctors, medicine, equipment, and health centers.  Drug and alcohol addiction programs are also a priority in Comondú. Finally, there is interest in nutrition awareness programs because, according to one community leader, “it is one thing to eat; it is another thing to know how to eat.”[1