Stories of positive action from around the world Story numbers
correspond to those in the Report. Enhancing capacity for
monitoring, research, and intervention 16.8: Mexico – using
evidence to reform the national health system At the time of the
health system reform in Mexico in 2000, half of Mexican
families, most of them poor, had no protection against the
financial consequences of ill-health. The reform of the Mexican
health system invested heavily in the generation and application
of knowledge. National health accounts showed that more than
half of all health expenditure in Mexico was out-of-pocket. As a
consequence, many households were driven below the poverty line
or forced deeper into poverty. This evidence created public
awareness of a reality that had hitherto been outside the policy
debate – namely, that health care itself could become a direct
cause of impoverishment. Major legislative reform was undertaken
to establish a system of protection in health and was approved
by all political parties in