Mexico's Ministry of Health presented the National Strategy for the Integration of National Medical Care Protocols (PRONAM). This project is considered a turning point in building a unified health system, based on standardized clinical practices, homogeneous quality criteria, and a vision of equity that seeks to guarantee uniform access for the entire population.
The protocols establish uniform steps for the care of chronic diseases and childhood cancer. They include detailed clinical instructions that cover the diagnosis, treatment, referral, and comprehensive management of each condition.
During the event, the Secretary of Health recalled that the mandate of the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, is to advance towards a single health system where clinical standardization is the transformative axis to reduce inequalities and ensure timely, continuous, and quality care throughout the national territory.
The Secretary of the Council, Patricia Clark, highlighted that PRONAM are part of a structural policy focused on people, and reminded that four of the ten approved protocols—Type 2 Diabetes and metabolic syndrome; Chronic kidney disease; Obesity and overweight; and Systemic arterial hypertension—represent 80% of the national disease burden, which makes their implementation an essential mechanism to modify the country's epidemiological profile.
The presentation also included the 10 currently available protocols, including those for the "First 1,000 days of life," "Vaccination throughout life," and guidelines for the early diagnosis of pediatric cancer, including retinoblastoma, Hodgkin's lymphoma, and acute lymphoblastic leukemia in girls, boys, and adolescents.
The director general of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), Zoé Robledo, reaffirmed that the strategy brings together an equalizing effort that will allow all people to receive care under the same quality standards, while the head of IMSS-Bienestar, Alejandro Svarch Pérez, noted that the territorial network of rural and community units will contribute to the model's operability, stressing the need to respect the country's cultural diversity while unifying clinical criteria.
The director general of the ISSSTE, Martí Batres Guadarrama, emphasized that PRONAM allow for a joint approach to chronic diseases—such as diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia—to prevent sequelae and complications that lead to premature deaths.
During the launch, held at the Congresses Unit of the IMSS National Medical Center Siglo XXI, the Secretary of Health, David Kershenobich, underscored the importance of consolidating a national model that will allow overcoming historical disparities arising from labor affiliation or geographical residence, emphasizing that the certification of PRONAM will be a training and work requirement for health personnel in the immediate future.
