Child Opportunity Index Highlights Inequities for Latino Kids



A new interactive mapping tool from diversitydatakids.org allows you to see what opportunities are available to children based on different neighborhoods. “The Child Opportunity Index measures and maps the conditions children need: safe housing, good schools, access to healthy food, green spaces and clean air, among others,” according to diversitydatakids.org. The mapping tool highlights the social and health inequities for Latino children and other children of color. “These conditions are not equitably available to all children in the U.S. Black, Hispanic and Indigenous children disproportionately live in neighborhoods that do not provide all the conditions children need to be healthy and grow into their full potential,” according to diversitydatakids.org. By ...

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How to Build Support for Pregnant Women, Maternal Health in Rural Areas


Maternal Health

Women who give birth face numerous risks leading up to, during, and after delivery. Pregnancy complications can bring about physical and mental effects, including post-partum depression, infections, preterm labor, and other significant risks. Without proper medical care, these risks can increase — especially for women of color and those living in rural communities. That’s why the Rural Health Information Hub released its Rural Maternal Health Toolkit to promote creation of and support for maternal health programs for pregnant women and new mothers in rural communities. “Rural women experience poorer maternal health outcomes compared to their urban counterparts, including higher pregnancy-related mortality,” Lexie Schmidt, an outreach specialist the Rural Health ...

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Help Your City Adopt Smoke-Free Multifamily Housing!


smokefree multifamily housing child with no smoking sign for smoke-free multifamily housing

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 ...

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Dr. Amelie Ramirez: Answering the Big Questions on COVID-19 Vaccines


Dr. Amelie Ramirez san antonio women's hall of fame

Some groups get vaccinated for the COVID-19 vaccine at much lower rates. Why is this? How can we build vaccine confidence? Dr. Amelie Ramirez and her team at UT Health San Antonio are working hard to promote vaccine confidence and answer big questions about the vaccine. Ramirez is doing this in a variety of ways: Creating the Salud America! COVID-19 Vaccine “Change of Heart” Bilingual Storytelling Campaign to share real people who moved from vaccine hesitancy to vaccine confidence. Producing Salud America!'s weekly updated post on U.S. vaccination rates, ways to improve confidence, and how to overcome vaccine misinformation. Joining the Latino USA podcast to answer COVID-19 vaccine questions. Providing a vaccine Q&A for UT Health San Antonio. Joining ...

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25,000 Comments Call for Safety Reforms in a Transportation Engineering ‘Bible’


Overhaul of the MUTCD

More than 25,000 public comments were submitted to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on proposed changes to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Our team at Salud America! developed three model comments asking FHWA to adopt a public health and Safe System Approach to reframe and rewrite the 700-page MUTCD, one of transportation engineering’s “bibles” that guides road creation. More than 2,100 people visited our model comments over 30 days and nearly 450 people submitted our model comments. “This enormous volume of comments (a more than ten-fold increase over the last time the MUTCD was updated in 2009) demonstrates the degree to which Americans want change,” according to a post from the National Association of City Transportation Officials ...

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La historia asombrosa de Helen Córdova, la primera persona en California en recibir la vacuna COVID-19



Helen Córdova sabe lo peligroso que es el COVID-19. Ella ha estado trabajando en la primera línea como enfermera de la UCI durante toda la pandemia. “COVID causó definitivamente un gran impacto en la comunidad de atención médica. Había tanta incertidumbre y cosas que no sabíamos sobre el virus”, dijo Córdova. Cuando la vacuna fue autorizada por primera vez por la FDA para uso de emergencia en diciembre de 2020, Córdova fue elegida para ser una de las primeras personas en recibir la vacuna. Pero estaba muy nerviosa y al comienzo no quería vacunarse. “Inicialmente, estaba segura de que no iba a recibir la vacuna. Pensé: 'Fue apresurado, no le tengo confianza'”, dijo Córdova. Pero después de consultar con sus colegas y leer la investigación de los ...

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We Can Do This: The COVID-19 Public Education Campaign in English, Spanish


We Can Do This campaign covid-19 prevention vaccine

You've probably seen or heard this phrase a lot recently: "We can do this." That's the slogan for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' "We Can Do This" / "Juntos Sí Podemos" COVID-19 Public Education Campaign. This national initiative aims to increase public confidence in uptake of COVID-19 vaccines and other basic prevention measures, such as mask wearing and social distancing. The "We Can Do This" campaign materials are in English, Spanish, and more. The campaign also has a "live" event series that pairs medical experts with prominent influencers to share information to help people feel confident about getting the vaccine. The events occur in the places where people already consume content, including social media, podcasts, and YouTube. The effort is ...

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The Amazing Story of Helen Cordova, the First Person in California to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine



Helen Cordova knows how dangerous COVID-19 is. She’s been working on the frontline as an ICU nurse throughout the entire pandemic. “COVID was definitely a big shock for the healthcare community. There was just so much uncertainty and things we didn't know about it,” Cordova said. When the vaccine was first authorized for emergency use by the FDA in December 2020, Cordova was chosen to be one of the first recipients of the vaccine. But she was very nervous and didn’t originally want to get it. “Initially, I was absolutely not going to get the vaccine. I thought, ‘It was rushed, I won't trust it,’” Cordova said. But after consulting with her colleagues and reading the research from the clinical trials, Cordova knew it was safe and the right ...

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