I am director of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio. I have spent 30 years directing research on human and organizational communication to reduce chronic disease, cancer, and obesity health disparities affecting Latinos.
This is part of the "Advancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos: 2022 Conference Proceedings," which summarizes findings and discussions of the 2022 Advancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos Conference on Feb. 23-25, 2022, in San Antonio, Texas.
Healthcare Improvement in the Latino community
The United States healthcare system is rife with challenges affecting the Latino community, with a population of 60.6 million [Estrada]. Health challenges include higher rates of infant mortality, stroke, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and COVID-19. [Webb Hooper, Duma] Latino patients, especially those who are uncomfortable discussing care in English, are often labeled as unintelligent and non-compliant. [Duma] In the COVID-19 pandemic, cases among the Latino population have been ...
Racism is a public health crisis. Decades of racism-infused social, economic, and political systems have led to inequitable communities for Black, Latino, and other people of color, who face high burdens of stress, disease, and premature death. You can help local leaders declare racism a public health crisis and commit to change! Download the free action pack, “Create a Meaningful Resolution on Racism as a Public Health Crisis,” from the Salud America! Latino health equity national program at UT Health San Antonio. The action pack will help you connect with local advocates of color, draft a resolution, start a conversation with local leaders, and build support for a resolution to declare racism a public health crisis and take action for more equitable policies and ...
Cancer and Alzheimer’s hurt many of our abuelos, moms, dads, and others we love. Clinical trials help us fight for our familia. Clinical trials are studies that help researchers learn more to help slow, manage, and treat Alzheimer’s and cancer for current and future family members. But without Latino volunteers for clinical trials, the benefits may miss this group. Visit our clinical trials page to find a clinical trial, read about hero volunteers, and more! Share your story with us! “Latinos in clinical trials are not only helping themselves, but they’re also building a future with better treatments that can help their families in the future,” said Dr. Amelie Ramirez, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research and Salud America! at UT Health San ...
Doctors have implicit, subconscious preferences for white patients over those of color, studies show. This is implicit bias. These biases — stereotypes that affect our understanding and decisions about others beyond our conscious control — lead to discrimination and health disparities. Fortunately, implicit bias can be “rewired” for compassion for patients of color. Download the free Salud America! Action Pack “Health Care Workers and Researchers: Find If You Have Implicit Bias and What to Do Next.” "This Action Pack will help you see if you have implicit bias, learn from others who have overcome their own implicit bias, and encourage colleagues to learn about implicit bias, too," said Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of the Salud America! Latino health equity ...
A medida que las vacunas contra el COVID-19 de Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna y Johnson & Johnson continúan distribuyéndose en todo el país, nos estamos acercando a la inmunidad colectiva y a poner fin a la pandemia. Un obstáculo en este camino es la desconfianza en las vacunas. La desconfianza en las vacunas es causada por una variedad de fuentes, como el trauma histórico por el maltrato en la atención de salud y la información falsa sobre las vacunas que circula en las redes sociales. La información falsa sobre las vacunas es especialmente peligrosa, ya que a menudo está dirigirá a las comunidades latinas y negras, que se han visto afectadas de manera desproporcionada por el COVID-19 y son las comunidades que más necesitan la vacuna. Repasemos las preguntas más ...
El coronavirus COVID-19 puede afectar a cualquier persona. Pero los repores muestran que los latinos y otras personas de color se ven afectadas de manera desproporcionada, debido al deterioro de las desigualdades históricas. ¿Qué muestran los datos realmente?
Tasas de casos de COVID-19 en los latinos
Recientemente la población latina de los EE. UU. aumentó a 18,5%. Pero el coronavirus está enfermando de manera desproporcionada a los latinos. Los latinos representan actualmente el 28,8% de los casos de COVID-19 en los Estados Unidos, superados solo por los blancos (50,1%), según los datos de los CDC reportados el 16 de junio de 2021. Los datos por raza/etnicidad están disponibles para el 62% de los casos del país. Las hospitalizaciones asociadas con el COVID-19 ...
People who live in multifamily housing share air with their neighbors ─ including secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke contains over 70 cancer-causing chemicals, and has killed over 2.5 million people. The dangers are especially serious in multifamily housing, where secondhand smoke can travel through doorways, halls, windows, ventilation systems, electrical outlets, and gaps around fixtures. Download the Salud America! Action Pack “Help Your City Adopt Smoke-Free Multifamily Housing!” The action pack will help you engage local leaders in exploring a smoke-free multifamily housing policy for common areas and individual units. "Experts say a smoke-free multifamily housing policy can protect the health of tenants and staff of apartments from secondhand smoke, as well as ...
Latinos with cancer face a tough survivorship journey. Many suffer advanced disease, poor quality of life, and stressful social and economic inequities. This is why a new, first-of-its-kind national cohort study will unpack the social, cultural, behavioral, psychosocial, biological, and medical influences on post-cancer life in Latino cancer survivors to fill a crucial gap in knowledge about their survivorship experience. The study, “Avanzando Caminos (Leading Pathways): The Hispanic/Latino Cancer Survivorship Study,” is funded by a 6-year, $9.8-million grant from the National Cancer Institute that will team up two of its Cancer Centers, the Mays Cancer Center, home to UT Health San Antonio MD Anderson and the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of ...
Many people think they harbor no bias toward other people. Or they believe they know their biases and don’t act on them. But everyone has implicit bias. Implicit biases are stereotypes that affect our actions and decisions about others, beyond our conscious control. Fortunately, these biases also can be “rewired” toward more compassion for others. Download the free Salud America! Action Pack “Find Out If You Have Implicit Bias and What to Do Next.” This Action Pack will help you see if you have implicit bias, learn from others who have overcome their own implicit bias, and also encourage others to learn about implicit bias, too. GET THE ACTION PACK! Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio, created this Action Pack. With the ...
