A group of experts working to improve maternal and infant health in Canada and Mexico recently held an Education Week in Ottawa. Key members of the group had dinner with Francisco Barrio Terrazas (front row, second from the left), the Mexican ambassador to Canada, to discuss their work.

Canada-Mexico Battling Childhood Obesity (CAMBIO), a multidisciplinary, international team of researchers based at Queen’s University and the University of Guadalajara, co-sponsored and participated in a series of family health workshops recently in Ottawa.

Several organizations that work to improve maternal health, strengthen families and build healthier communities in Canada and Mexico came together during Education Week. including representatives from CAMBIO, Grupo Monarca, an organization of four Mexican hospitals, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), and CHEO’s Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group (HALO).

The theoretical and practical sessions focused on research protocols, clinical practices, population considerations and obesity research. The workshops build on a long-running collaboration between CHEO and Grupo Monarca that started in 1997.

Members of CAMBIO began meeting with the health-care partnership earlier this year.