at the beginning of the decentralization
(1985) and forms part of the community committees, supporting not
only the operation of the health services but the whole set of
actions for social development.  In this way they do not
represent institutions or specific programs.  However, in the
regions with higher incidence of malaria in Tabasco, the program
has considered that a specific speaker that prioritizes the
antimalaria actions in the community is required (SST-J1,
1991).

Community participation for malaria control is quantified by the
program as the number of cases diagnosed as malaria by the
voluntary collaborators and is identified as "passive search." 
These diagnoses plus those made by the health services
represented 75% of the national total in 1990.

In Campeche there is the perception that the communities have
ceased to cooperate, that they rent the animals at 50,000 pesos
per day (approximately $US16) (SCSPC-C5, 1991).  This hampers
the workers' mobility, especially out to the most remote
communities.  At present the treatment is left in the hands of
the voluntary collaborators (SCSPC-C5, 1991), who form the
community network for support of the malaria program.  The cases
diagnosed by the voluntary collaborators represented more than
50% of the annual total in the period analyzed (see Figure 1).

It is possible that the material support of the malaria workers
by the rural communities has decreased; however, what is
important is their direct contribution for the control of
malaria, through the diagnosis and treatment of cases, among
other aspects not quantified by the program.  It is necessary to
consider the poverty in which the greatest part of the rural
groups in Mexico are found; their income in the best of cases
does not exceed the official minimum wage, which in 1990 was
11,000.00 Mexican pesos per day ($US4.00, approximately).  Under
these conditions, community participation is not only a
philanthropic function, but also collective support for sur