Objectives: To describe the advances made by countries in the Mesoamerican region towards reaching Millenium Development Goals (MDG) 4 and 5, and discuss the most useful tasks to help the region in accomplishing or keeping track of these objectives.
Material and methods: The trend estimates of maternal and under 5 mortality from 1990 to 2008, the effective coverage of vaccination against diphteria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT), prenatal care and childbirth by qualified personnel were taken from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and the causes of death for children under five were taken from the Children's Health Epidemiology Reference Group of WHO (CHERG).
Results: The regional trend in the rate of mortality for children under five (MDG-4) in the last 18 years shows an annual reduction of 4.2%, significantly above the global reduction of 2.1%. This suggests that countries of Mesoamerica will be able to fulfill this objective. In contrast, data for 2008 shows that the rate of reduction of maternal mortality is very heterogeneous and it is unlikely that any of the countries in the region will reach this goal.
Conclusion: Efforts made by countries in Mesoamerica have been substantial in controlling mortality in children under five years but insufficient to achieve MDG-5. Although the tendency is in the right track the reduction rate will only partially fulfill the acquired commitments to eradicate poverty.