Development Targets and Efficiency in Improving Education and Health Outcomes in Mexico’s Southern States

Unlike Mexico as a whole, the south (that is, the states of Chiapas, Guerrero, and Oaxaca) may well not reach many of the MDGs. The objective of this paper is to document this assertion and discuss some of the constraints toward reaching the MDGs, as well as some initiatives recently taken to make faster progress. In the first section of the paper, we provide a brief diagnostic regarding how much progress has already been achieved toward reaching the MDGs in Mexico as a whole and in the south, and in some cases (for example, for poverty) we estimate how much additional progress is likely to be achieved in the years ahead. Thereafter, we focus on the question of whether improvements in efficiency in the provision of basic services would help in improving outcomes in the south, with a focus on health and education. Finally, we discuss the existing evidence on the impact that programs such as the Education, Health, and Nutrition Program (Programa de Educación, Salud y Alimentación—PROGRESA) have had on progress toward reaching some of these goals.