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According to a report from the Utah Department of Health, the health of Utah’s Latinos has shown little improvement in the last five years. Latinos in the state continue to show higher levels of obesity, infant mortality, and other negative health measures.
According to a report from the Utah Department of Health, the health of Utah’s Latinos has shown little improvement in the last five years. Latinos in the state continue to show higher levels of obesity, infant mortality, and other negative health measures.
“We didn’t seem to improve a whole lot in some of these measures that we’ve been needing to improve,” said the report’s lead author and health program specialist at the Utah Department of Health, Jake Fitisemanu. “Being an optimistic person and seeing the great work and the funding and initiatives and projects that have been going on in the last few years, I think we all kind of expected to see a little bit more improvement.”
Latinos accounted for nearly 40% of the population growth of Utah last year. The population explosion has been difficult for healthcare providers. Cultural attitudes toward health and health issues are something that many providers have difficulty navigating on a daily basis.
“Childhood obesity is something that we find a lot,” said Jose Esparza, a nurse practitioner at the Central City Community Health Center. “In some cultures, they see an obese child as a healthy child.”
The report found that Latinos were three times as likely to report not having health insurance. The figure has probably improved due to the passage of the Affordable Care Act.
Utah also has the second-highest rate of children who qualify for Medicaid or CHIP that have not signed up for it yet. Latinos in Utah have double the uninsured rate at 22% compared to the national average of 11%.
“That’s the biggest glaring issue that we see,” said Randal Serr, the director of Take Care Utah.
By The Numbers
25.1
percent
of Latinos remain without health insurance coverage
