California Office of Binational Border Health - Core Office

The California Office of Binational Border Health (COBBH) was created in 1999 by legislation (AB 63, Ducheny) as a unit of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).  The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Extension administers COBBH under contract with CDPH.

Mission

The COBBH mission is “to protect and improve the health of California communities by facilitating communication, coordination, and collaboration among California and Mexico health officials and health professionals.”

The main roles of COBBH are the following:

• Serve as the CDPH liaison to Baja California state and other Mexican health officials
• Foster binational partnerships with other U.S.-Mexico border states
• Assess the health status of border communities
• Assist in border health program development
• Inform and educate the general public about border health
• Serve as an information clearinghouse

 COBBH goals include:

1. Assess and monitor border and binational public health issues.
2. Optimize border and binational communication, coordination, and collaboration on public health issues.
3. Build capacity in California and Baja California to effectively address public health issues.
4. Increase awareness among state and local agencies, policy makers, the public, and other stakeholders about border and binational public health issues, and the role of COBBH in addressing these issues.