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Cliff Despres

Cliff Despres, who has more than a decade of experience in journalism and public relations, is communications director for Salud America! and its home base, the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio.

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Articles by Cliff Despres

How a Latino Middle School Transformed into One of America’s Healthiest Schools


fit drums latino middle school california

By Patti Suppe, P.E. Teacher, Loma Vista Middle School, Riverside, Calif. SaludToday Guest Blogger At Loma Vista Middle School, we have a vision that all students will realize their unlimited potential. Our goal is for them to excel in all areas of their middle school education, from academics to physical fitness and co-curricular activities. As a physical education teacher, I know first-hand the importance of health and wellness in achieving this goal. That’s why we enrolled in the Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program, funded in part by Kaiser Permanente in select U.S. cities, including Riverside. The Program has had a huge impact on our school achieving our wellness goals. This year, we were named one of America’s Healthiest Schools – and were ...

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#SaludTues Tweetchat 9/27/16: How to Solve Latino Malnutrition and Hunger


Latino kid hungry

About 14% of all American households didn’t have reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious food in 2014. People in Latino households were hungrier and less nourished than in white households. Also, Latinos often live in neighborhoods with more fast food restaurants and fewer supermarkets and farmers’ markets. This leads to inadequate consumption of healthy foods and overconsumption of unhealthy foods, according to Latino-focused research. Let’s use #SaludTues on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016 to tweet about these trends and innovative methods of solving Latino hunger and malnutrition issues. WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “How to Solve Latino Malnutrition and Hunger” TIME/DATE: 1-2 p.m. ET (Noon-1 p.m. CT), Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016 WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag ...

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Latina Teen’s Weight Loss Inspires Family toward Health


maryflor latina teen weight loss

Maryflor Peña of Phoenix started to gain weight in sixth grade. She’d gained 65 pounds by the seventh grade, eating more pasta, more tacos, more everything. At age 12, Maryflor was diagnosed with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a fatty liver — ailments common in overweight and obese children and adults. A pediatric specialist told Maryflor and her parents that she must start eating healthy and exercising or would face a future of heart disease and diabetes. The teen, with the help of her parents, embarked on a weight-loss journey that has helped improve her vital signs and eventually spurred health improvement among her family members, according to a profile story by the American Heart Association. Latino children are far more obese and overweight than their ...

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One Big Solution to Health Inequity


Salud America

Latinos and other minorities suffer many inequities, such as less income, education, access to healthcare, and more. This puts them at greater risk for obesity and disease. That's why we're excited the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is spending $1.5 million to create Allies for Reaching Community Health Equity (ARCHE). ARCHE is a yearlong health equity initiative to strengthen families and communities and build a culture of health, led by the Center for Global Policy Solutions. The program will advance equitable public health strategies across the social determinants of health that work to combat disparities by race, gender, geography, and income while supporting healthier kids and communities. "Health is often overlooked as a key indicator of socioeconomic inequality," ...

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Iniciativas Animan a Latinos Dejar de Tomar Bebidas Azucaradas



Guillermina Rice se ha dedicado a velar por los niños en la escuela primaria de su hijo. Es allí donde ha promovido una iniciativa para el consumo de bebidas saludables. Para Rice, el interés en nutrición y hábitos para una vida saludable es un tema personal. La diabetes afecta a familiares de la representante de ventas de 47 años de edad. Cuando su hijo Aero, quien ahora tiene 13 años, asistía a Central Elementary School en San Diego, ella empezó a cuidar a los niños durante el recreo como voluntaria. “Es triste ver como todos nuestros niños que están en la escuela son como discriminados por los otros chiquitos porque están un poquito de sobrepeso”, dijo Rice, quien vive en City Heights, un vecindario de San Diego famoso por sus comunidades de inmigrantes que ...

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Latino Kids Face Alarming Poverty, Even Amid Rate Decline


Latino farm boy in poverty and food insecurity

Poverty rates remained much higher among Latino and Black children compared to White children, despite a decline in the overall U.S. poverty rates, according to new Census data. The overall poverty rate decreased to 13.5% for last year, a drop of 1.2 percentage points and the biggest decline since 1999, UPI reports. Poverty rates also dropped for Whites, Blacks and Latinos, and children and seniors. In all, 3.5 million people have risen out of poverty. "Today's report from the Census Bureau shows the remarkable progress that American families have made as the recovery continues to strengthen," according to a joint statement from the White House and other agencies. But communities of color are still disproportionately affected by poverty, especially children. The latest ...

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Why Latinos Age Slower Than Other Ethnicities


Salud America

Latinos age more slowly at the molecular level than other ethnic groups, according to a new study, the L.A. Times and Raycom News Network report. Researchers studied the DNA from blood of 6,000 people from two African groups, African Americans, Caucasians, East Asians, Latinos and Tsimane, an indigenous people in Bolivia. The DNA from blood reveals the health of a person’s immune system. The blood of Latinos and the Tsimane aged more slowly than the blood of other groups. Why? Latinos' slower aging may result from their Native American ancestry, the study's main author, Steve Horvath of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, told the L.A. Times. The process cannot be explained by Latinos' diet, education, obesity or socioeconomic status, factors for which the ...

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Report: Latino, Black Kids Woefully Lacking Mental Health Care


latino boy thinking; mental health care

Latino and Black children and young adults with mental health issues are half as likely as Whites to get mental health care, according to a new study, the Compton Herald reports. The study, which examined more than 108,000 Latino, Black, and White children and young adults, found that racial/ethnic minorities got a lot less psychiatric care. That includes fewer visits to psychiatrists, social workers, and psychologists, despite consistent rates of mental illness across racial/ethnic groups. Latino and Black youth also received less substance abuse and mental health counseling. Study researchers, led by Dr. Lyndonna Marrast of Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine in New York, indicate this could play a role "in why children from these communities end up getting expelled from ...

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Is the Growth of the U.S. Latino Population Slowing Down?


Crowd Population Diversity

Latinos are no longer the fastest-growing population in United States. The growth and dispersion of the Latino population has slowed since 2007, when the Great Recession started, immigration from Latin America cooled and Latino fertility rates began to fall, according to a new report by Pew Research Center. The U.S. Latino population still grew annually by 2.8% on average from 2007-2014, but that is much slower than its 4.4% growth rate from 2000-2007 and 5.8% in the 1990s. Asians now are the fastest rising U.S. population, with a 3.4% growth rate since 2007. Latino population dispersion, while still evident, also is slowing. For example, the share of U.S. counties with at least 1,000 Hispanics grew 8 percentage points from 38% to 46% from 2000-2007, but just 4 percentage ...

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