Citation

Dávila-Cervantes CA, Pardo-Montaño AM. Public Health 2018; 163: 1-8.

Affiliation

Institute of Geography, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.puhe.2018.06.001

PMID

30005276

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Colombia is considered one of the most violent countries in the world even though homicide mortality has decreased since 2002. Mexico's homicide rate has tripled since 2008, after a period of decreasing mortality; this fact has been compared with Colombia in the 1990s and defined as a 'Colombianization' of violence in Mexico. We analyzed and compared the trend and impact of homicide mortality in Colombia and Mexico between 1998 and 2015. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional descriptive study.

METHODS: We calculated the standardized mortality rates and the years of life lost using data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography in Mexico and the National Management Department of Statistics in Colombia. We used the joinpoint regression analysis to identify significant changes in the mortality trend.

RESULTS: During the 1990s, Colombia reached the highest homicide mortality rates in the world, but these rates have since decreased significantly. In Mexico, homicide mortality had a decreasing trend from 1998 to 2007; however, since 2008, the rate grew significantly, and although mortality tended to decrease after reaching its peak in 2011, a slight upturn was observed in 2015.

CONCLUSIONS: We found that the trend in mortality in both countries has had certain similarities, such as the increase in mortality after the implementation of antidrug policies and the subsequent decrease; however, the political processes, the level of mortality reached, its impact on life expectancy, and its distribution by gender are dissimilar. We consider speaking of a 'Colombianization' of violence in Mexico to be inaccurate.

Copyright © 2018 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Colombia; Homicide; Mexico; Violence