Schools are where kids consume half of their daily calories. But Latino kids are widely exposed to unhealthy foods at school, and are less likely to engage in physical activity in school than non-Latino white kids, according to a new research review from Salud America!, a national network for Latino childhood obesity prevention funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and based at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. Salud America!’s Healthier Schools and Latino Kids research shows that Latino-majority schools tend to: have weaker policies on school snacks and drinks than white-majority schools; may be less likely to implement nutritional guidelines; and offer few programs or access to facilities for physical activity. Solutions are emerging to create healthier ...
Did you know that 81% of Latino neighborhoods don’t have a safe recreational facility? That means Latino kids lack places to play and be active, which contributes to higher rates of physical inactivity and obesity, according to a new package of research from Salud America!, a national network for Latino childhood obesity prevention funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and based at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. Salud America!’s Active Spaces and Latino Kids research package tackles the latest science on the Latino physical activity environment and offers policy recommendations. Solutions are emerging to improve access to and safe use of active spaces: Shared use agreements are formal contracts between a school and a city, county, or sports league that ...
Apply now for the 2016 Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program and optional $3,250 internships. Éxito!, a program of the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, will select 25 master’s-level students and health professionals from across the nation to attend a five-day summer institute June 6-10, 2016, in San Antonio, offering research information, tools, tips, role models and motivation to encourage participants to pursue a doctoral degree and a career studying how cancer affects Latinos differently. Applicants for the 2016 Éxito! program can also apply for one of 10 internships. Master’s-degree students or master’s-trained health professionals are encouraged to apply for the training program and ...
Ahead of the open enrollment deadline Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell will be in San Antonio on Monday to promote and get more Latinos to sign up for the Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA). A recent report by the University of Maryland School of Public Policy found that ACA has improved insurance coverage and health care for Latinos. Despite the significant gains more than 30% of Latinos under 65 are without health insurance. The deadline for open enrollment is January 31, 2016. To sign up and learn more, visit ...
Many news media outlets covered the release of the new Salud America! Better Food in the Neighborhood and Latino Kids research package on Dec. 8, 2015. The new research package offers an in-depth review of the latest science on the U.S. Latino food environment and policy implications. KSAT-TV in San Antonio covered the research as part of its Making Awesome Changes series, which partners with Salud America! to feature people who are driving policy and environmental changes to benefit the health of Latino kids. Here are a few other top stories: NBC News: Latino Neighborhoods Have Fewer Supermarkets, Less Healthy Options
Latina Lista: Research: Latino Families Have Worse Access to Healthy Food
Medical News Today: Research: Latino families struggle to access to healthy ...
It motivated Andrew Jimenez to pursue a PhD “when it previously wasn’t a thought.” It opened Jasmin Berrios’ eyes to new cancer research fields to study. “It” is the Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. Éxito! (English: Success!) recently received a $1.4 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to continue to offer its annual five-day summer institute, internships, and other activities from 2015-2020 to empower master’s-level students and health professionals—like Jimenez and Berrios—to pursue a doctoral degree and cancer research careers. Of 101 Éxito! graduates since 2010, more than 30 percent have applied to doctoral ...
Latino kids NEED more more places to be active. WATCH and VOTE for your favorite “#SaludHeroes of Active Spaces" by Nov. 11, 2015, and be entered in a random drawing to win a FREE T-shirt and jump rope! #SaludHeroes are: Health at Your Fingertips. Baker Harrell and others created an app to bring real-time, geo-located fitness opportunities to people’s phones in Austin, Texas. Move it, Move it. Angela Mora and other city and community leaders teamed up to bring new walking trails to El Paso, Texas. Unlock the Gates. Susan Elizabeth and other leaders unlocked school playgrounds and fields—and the community showed up to use them in Earlimart, Calif. Complete Streets. Pedestrians and cyclists have safer streets and walkways thanks to the city’s “complete streets” ...
Smoking is a tough opponent to beat. Quitxt is a new free service that turns your mobile phone into a personal coach to help you quit smoking, using interactive and entertaining text messages, online support, hip-hop music, and videos designed for South Texas young adults by researchers at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. The service’s text messages help with motivation to quit, setting a quit date, finding things to do instead of smoking, handling stress, using nicotine replacement if needed, and more. To join, text “iquit” to 57682. “Text-message applications have scientifically proven to roughly double one’s odds of quitting smoking, so we developed Quitxt specifically for young adult Latinos to capitalize on their heavy usage of texting to help them ...
Latino kids NEED more healthy food and drink options—even at the zoo. WATCH and VOTE for your favorite “#SaludHeroes of Healthy Food and Drinks” by Oct. 7, 2015, and be entered in a random drawing to win a FREE T-shirt and jump rope! #SaludHeroes are: 1st U.S. Soda Tax. Latino leaders like Xavier Morales helped push for a penny-per-ounce tax on sugary drinks in Berkeley, Calif., the nation’s first such initiative. Start a Farmer’s Market. San Antonio teacher Michelle Griego knew a farmer’s market was missing in her neighborhood—so she started one on her own. Zoo Food. The El Paso Zoo is capitalizing on the healthy habits of animals to urge people to make proper eating and activity choices. Wrestling up Salad. Teen wrestler Alexander Castillo started ...
