From school gardens to active transportation, use the new Nutrition and Physical Activity Policy Resources Suite to improve nutrition and physical activity where you live. The suite, developed by ChangeLab Solutions and the California Department of Public Health’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Branch (NPAB), is home to resources that support policy work on nutrition and physical activity-related public health efforts. Local health departments, public health practitioners, and community leaders in any U.S. state can benefit from these resources. Let’s take a closer look into how these resources can help communities and families.
Strategies to Support Safe and Active Transportation
In ChangeLab Solutions’ resource suite, public health and community leaders can find a ...
The Salud America! Action Pack, “How to Start Screening for the Non-Medical Drivers of Health (NMDoH),” is featured in two resource databases that help healthcare systems start addressing NMDoH with screening, referrals, and more. Find our action pack in the University of California, San Francisco's national database, the Social Interventions Research & Evaluation Network (SIREN). Find our action pack in Rice University's Texas-focused database, Evidence-to-Practice for Non-Medical Drivers of Health (E2 Practice NMDOH). You can use the new Salud America! Action Pack, “How to Start Screening for the NMDoH,” to launch screening in your clinic, hospital, or healthcare system! The action pack, created by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez at UT Health San Antonio, has a ...
Heart disease is the top cause of death among U.S. Latinos. In addition, data shows widening gaps in hypertension control, obesity, and diabetes among Hispanic populations, heightening their risk of heart disease and stroke, according to a new scientific statement by the American Heart Association (AHA). "Advancing cardiovascular and [fair] health will require developing a deeper understanding of the unique drivers of cardiovascular disease within ... Hispanic communities, addressing barriers such as language and insurance access, and implementing culturally tailored interventions and policies," according to AHA's scientific statement. Let's explore AHA's statement and some ways to take action during Hispanic Heritage Month.
Heart Issues among Latinos
AHA's scientific statement ...
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing a rule change to require food companies to notify regulators before introducing ingredients or additives into processed or packaged foods, according to federal health leaders. Under the rule, companies would have to submit a safety rationale for new ingredients. “The proposal would change a decades-old policy that advocates have called a regulatory loophole, blaming it for allowing thousands of unvetted ingredients into the U.S. food supply,” according to the Associated Press. You can submit a public comment crafted by Salud America! to provide feedback on FDA’s plan to tighten restrictions on new food additives and ingredients. Comments are due Dec. 9, 2026. Comment NOW!
Submit This Model Comment on Food ...
This content is from UT Health San Antonio’s book, “Advancing Cancer Research for Latinos and All Populations: 2026 Conference Proceedings,” which highlights results of the same-named conference in February 2026.
Advancing Environmental Change and Cancer Research Through Latinx Expertise
Dr. Leticia M. Nogueira is Director of Health Services Research at the American Cancer Society. Environmental and cancer care Dr. Nogueira’s presentation focused on the connection between environmental change and cancer, and how expertise from the Latinx population is fundamental for advancing solutions that are relevant to everyone. Environmental change alters the behavior of extreme weather events. Extreme weather events can damage medical infrastructure, break transportation links, ...
Amid a sweltering summer heat wave, communities in the U.S. East Coast are struggling to handle the stress on energy demand in homes built to heat rather than cool. In fact, many households across the county experience a lack of air conditioning reliability. This often-overlooked non-medical driver of health impacts overlooked populations, lower income individuals, those who live in rural areas, and families that live in densely populated urban areas that lack shade or in older buildings with no central air. Let’s explore how air conditioning reliability (or unreliability) can affect the health of you and your familia—and how local communities can address this inconsistency.
State of Air Conditioning Reliability
Over 35 million Americans live ...
Healthy eating can be a challenge for many different reasons. Lack of access to grocery stores, rising food costs, and lack of awareness of how to eat healthy are just a few reasons why some people have worse nutritional diets than others. That’s where Nutrition Navigation can help. Nutrition Navigation is a new virtual nutrition counseling service from Healthier Texas that is designed to connect Texans with personalized, evidence-based care from registered dietitians. Let’s dive deeper into this tool and see how it can help Texas families and communities.
The Benefits of Nutrition Navigation
Nutrition Navigation was created to help combat the barriers that communities face when it comes to understanding and practicing better nutrition. Through Nutrition Navigation, ...
Just north of the Mexico-California border, the San Ysidro community is where nearly 1 in 5 people enter the U.S. by land to work, shop, learn, and see family. The result is a dynamic cultural exchange and a vibrant binational economic hub. Yet amid the hustle and bustle, environmental change has crept into this predominantly Latino community, adding pollution from heavy traffic, sewage contamination, and more. That is why community members came together to protect and educate their neighbors, leading to accomplishments in environmental justice that are chronicled in English and Spanish “story maps” by Community Voices for Action, a storytelling project from the AAMC Center for Health Justice. Let’s explore how community power led to a big change.
What Is Environmental ...
In 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruled in favor of legally enforceable standards that limit toxic “forever chemicals,” also known as perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), in drinking water. Human exposure to PFAS is linked to adverse health effects, such as increased cancer risk. However, the current federal administration is revisiting the EPA’s ruling, claiming that the former administration didn’t follow proper channels to lawfully regulate the use of four key chemicals in the PFAS family, CNN reports. The EPA’s regulatory process is underway to repeal some PFAS limitations and delay implementation of others. July 2026 Update: The EPA received 53,643 comments regarding protections for safe drinking water and ...
Tell FDA: Tighten Restrictions on Food Additives and Ingredients
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing a rule change to require food companies to notify regulators before introducing ingredients or additives into processed or packaged foods, according to federal health leaders. Under the rule, companies would have to submit a safety rationale for new ingredients. “The proposal would change a decades-old policy that advocates have called a regulatory loophole, blaming it for allowing thousands of unvetted ingredients into the U.S. food supply,” according to the Associated Press. You can submit a public comment crafted by Salud America! to provide feedback on FDA’s plan to tighten restrictions on new food additives and ingredients. Comments are due Dec. 9, 2026. Comment NOW! Submit This Model Comment on Food ...
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