At her annual wellness visit, Dr. Stormee Williams filled out a digital questionnaire that asked about her need for help with housing, transportation, food access, and other non-medical needs. Williams was taking an “Non-Medical Drivers of Health (NMDoH) Screener.” An NMDoH screener is a questionnaire to help healthcare workers identify a patient’s issues with the non-medical drivers of health. These are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of systems that shape life. If a screener finds a patient in need, healthcare workers can then connect the patient to community support and resources. Helping patients address these non-medical needs can help them achieve better health. Williams, fortunately, didn’t have non-medical ...
Where you live can have a big impact on your health. In fact, our health is influenced by a variety of non-medical drivers, such as the conditions in which we are born, grow, live, work, and age. These conditions are known as the non-medical drivers of health (NMDoH). Addressing NMDoH is key to improving health for Latinos and all people, said Dr. Amelie Ramirez, leader of Salud America! and the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio, in a panel presentation on Dec. 5, 2023, at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. "What we’re finding is that [issues with NMDoH can] negatively impact our health," Ramirez said.
Screening for Non-Medical Drivers of Health (NMDoH)
Studies suggest that NMDoH accounts for between 30-55% of health outcomes. NMDoH ...
Where in San Antonio can you find a list of health clinics? Mental health resources? Health coverage resources? Organizations with community health workers? Fortunately, the local Health Confianza health literacy team led by UT Health San Antonio has the answers (and more) on its new bilingual resource website, WellnessCultura.org and WellnessCultura.org/esp. Let's explore the need for health literacy and how the new website will help improve preventive care!
What Is Health Literacy?
Health literacy is "the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions," according to the CDC. In today’s world, health literacy is crucial for community members and health ...
The total economic output, or gross domestic product (GDP), for Latinos in the United States has grown from $1.7 trillion in 2010 to $3.2 trillion in 2021, according to the Latino Donor Collaborative’s 2023 U.S. Latino GDP Report. Let’s dive deeper into why and how Latinos are driving the U.S. economy.
The Latino GDP
The U.S. Latino GDP is $3.2 trillion. That makes it the is the fifth-largest economy in the world embedded inside the United States, according to 2023 U.S. Latino GPD Report. “U.S. Latinos are not a niche market, nor small, nor as sometimes described as a market of the future,” according to the report. “It is already the third fastest growing economy on the planet, and may soon rival China’s growth rates.”
Growth of the Latino ...
Latinas make, on average, 52 cents for every $1 that white men make. This historic pay gap has worsened over time and contributes to poor health, especially in Latinas with expensive, chronic conditions, such as breast cancer. Breast cancer is one of the most expensive cancers to treat. It also happens to be the most diagnosed cancer and leading cause of cancer death among Latinas. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October), we’re highlighting how unfair Latina pay negatively impacts Latina breast cancer health outcomes and survivorship.
Why Does the Latina Wage Gap Exist?
Women in general earn 82% of what men earn. The reasons for this wage gap are multifaceted, according to Pew Research. Half of US adults blame the employer for wage differences, agreeing ...
We have updated our Salud America! Report Card to cover your county’s child opportunity score, environmental justice score, location affordability, and transit access. The Report Card, first launched in 2017, auto-generates Latino and local data with interactive maps and comparative gauges, which can help you visualize and explore local inequities in housing, transit, poverty, health care, food, education, and more. You will see how your county stacks up in these health improvement issues — now including child opportunity, location affordability, and transit access — compared to your state and the nation. Then you can share the Report Card with your local leaders to shift from individualist thinking to advocating for systemic community change for health equity! Get your ...
For this year’s Healthy Vision Month, the National Eye Institute (NEI) is highlighting the theme of “Healthy Vision: A Family Focus” (“Visión saludable: ojos sanos para su familia”). To ensure that everyone gets important eye health information, the NEI is sharing its helpful resources in Spanish – made through transcreation. Transcreation is the process of taking a concept in one language and completely recreating it in another language, adjusting the literal translation to align with the context of the intended audience. “A successfully transcreated message (either written or visual) evokes the same emotions and carries the same implications in the target language as it does in the source language, but in a way that resonates with the target audience,” ...
Data can drive action for healthy change. But what if we don’t have enough data? Or the right data? Or fair data? Unfortunately, even with more health reports and more health dashboards than ever before, we still face inconsistent and incomplete data. We are lacking sufficient data – especially data disaggregated by background – on non-medical drivers of health, firearm violence, traffic crashes, and adverse childhood experiences. Insufficient data happens for many reasons. Limited funding, limited staff, uncertain methods, logistical challenges, entrenched practices, inadequate analysis, and inadequate or non-uniform reporting after data collection are occurring at the local, state, and federal levels. Let’s explore the most critical missing data and how health ...
The USDA has sought comments on a proposed rule to increase the number of high-poverty schools that can offer free school meals for all students. The proposal would expand the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) by lowering the minimum identified student percentage participation threshold from 40% to 25%. That means more schools and districts can opt into the CEP, which can: Increase school meal participation.
Reduce stigma.
maximize federal reimbursements.
eliminate unpaid meal charges.
reduce paperwork for school staff and families. “Many schools and even some entire states have successfully provided free meals to all their students,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “We applaud their leadership in nourishing children and hope this proposed ...
