Aid groups aim to bring health care to migrants on way to US via WhatsApp, tech

A woman seeking asylum in the US and waiting in Mexico, is tested at a clinic in Matamoros, Mexico. A humanitarian organisation led by US military veterans has treated thousands of migrants over the past year at two clinics in a Mexican town across the border from Texas. But Global Response Management is attempting to go beyond mere crisis response and build a system to make it easier to track the health of migrants along their journey from Central America. — AP

MATAMOROS, Mexico: Aurora Leticia Cruz has tried to keep up with her blood pressure medication since fleeing Guatemala more than a year ago, but the limbo she finds herself in – stuck in a sprawling camp at the Texas border after traversing Mexico – has made that hard.

When Cruz felt woozy on a recent day as her blood pressure skyrocketed, it could have ended in tragedy, leaving her 17-year-old granddaughter and two great-grandchildren under three alone in the camp in Matamoros. But instead, a nurse practitioner from Oregon and a Cuban doctor, who like Cruz is awaiting US asylum proceedings, were able to pull up her medical record and prescribe the correct dosage.