Latino adults smoke cigarettes at a lower rate (12.1%) than their white peers (19.4%). However, once they’ve started, Latinos are more likely to keep smoking and only half as likely as whites to successfully quit smoking, according to the UCSF Smoking Cessation Leadership Center. Experts say the reasons why fewer Latinos quit is complex. “You’re looking at a population with fewer alternatives to cope,” David Williams, a public-health professor at Harvard University, told whyy.org. "That makes it harder for them to give up that aid.”
'Hard to Quit' Reason: Little Access to Help
Latino smokers lack access to support for quitting smoking. They have the lowest rate of health insurance coverage among racial/ethnic groups. They also experience lower levels of ...
Fatima Frausto’s parents came from Zacatecas and worked very hard to give her a better future and instill in her a love for learning. This foundation helped propel her to excel in school while learning about public health. Frausto attended UT Austin where she found her calling in conducting research about reproductive health and the Latinx experience. She is now working on her master’s degree of public health in health promotion and behavioral sciences at the UT Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health. She has personally seen and experienced health inequities. This is something she intends to address in her future research. To further her experience and education, Frausto applied for the Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training program. The ...
Stressed-out and down this holiday season? You might have the "holiday blues." These are temporary feelings of depression associated with the extra stress, financial constraints, and unrealistic expectations of the season. These can harm long-term mental health. You might have "seasonal affective disorder." This is a seasonal depression that happens at the same time every year as the season change, such as the bleak wintertime months. These conditions are especially worrisome for people who suffer high rates of mental health issues. Latinos, for example, already face higher rates of depressive symptoms than many of their peers. Fewer Latinos than whites say their child had ever used mental health care services, according to a Salud America! research review. So what can you ...
The holidays can be a season for family, friends, and festivities. But this time also can bring stress, anxiety, and depression. Financial and gift-giving burdens rise. The calendar gets jammed with travel, social gatherings, or loneliness for those who can’t meet with friends and family. This is bad news especially for Latino and other minority groups who already suffer higher rates of mental health issues than their peers. On Twitter, let's use #SaludTues on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018, to share tips, stories, and resources to help Latino and all people manage and fortify their mental health and self-care this holiday season: WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “Fortify Mental Health for the Holidays”
TIME / DATE: 1-2 p.m. ET (Noon-1 p.m. CT), Tuesday, 12/18/18
WHERE: On ...
Eat right and exercise. You’ve probably heard this health message a thousand times. But there’s a growing case for health professionals to ditch the word “exercise,” as it actually may hinder Latinas from getting the disease-preventing physical activity they need. Why? Read on.
Latina Physical Activity & Inactivity
Physical activity, like walking, dancing, gardening, and playing with kids can improve blood glucose control and prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes. New federal physical activity guidelines just came out confirming the health benefits of physical activity. However, Latinos are less likely than other groups to meet these recommendations, and physical inactivity is one reason Latinas have the highest lifetime risk for diabetes across all ...
Healthcare agencies are seeing a big decline in the number of Central Texas Latinos signing up for Obamacare health insurance through HealthCare.gov, TPR reports. This decline might be happening in other Latino-populated parts of the U.S., too. In fact, with less than a week before the sign-up period for 2019 Obamacare plans ends on Dec. 15, 2018, national health insurance sign-ups are down 11% through the first five weeks compared with the same time last year via HealthCare.gov, the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchange.
Why the Decline?
Experts who have been following ACA enrollment closely cite several factors. According the latest reports, the Trump administration erased a Latino outreach guide from the ACA website. This violates ACA regulations ...
Edgar Muñoz has a passion for uncovering multilevel aspects of cancer and disease among the Latino population in the United States and in his native Colombia. And he’s always willing to lend a hand and a smile whenever needed. Muñoz offers plenty of smiles and epidemiological support as a senior-level statistician at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio. At the IHPR, Muñoz assists in developing research, conducting analyses, identifying and using available methodologies and databases, and preparing reports. He has a master’s degree in epidemiology, and he has participated in the design, conduction, analysis, and evaluation of complex public health interventions in Colombia and the U.S. His interests are design and evaluation of ...
Family separations. Broken families. Little social support. In these tough times, abuela and abuelo often have to step up a caregivers for young children. That is why Raheem Baraka's Baraka Community Wellness partnered with nonprofit Tree of Life to create a unique support group for Spanish-speaking grandparents who are doubling as caregivers in Boston (19% Latino). "There are many grandparents who are raising their grandchildren," Baraka told Salud America! in July 2018. "There are broken families. There are challenges around our people staying together in highly traumatic and stressful situations."
The Need for Grandparents as Caregivers
In 2016, a record 64 million people, or 20% of the U.S. population, lived with multiple generations under one roof, according to a recent ...
By Sally Diaz
San Antonio Cancer Survivor On May 5, 2014, just 6 days before Mother’s Day, my world came crashing down. I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Triple Negative Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. I noticed my lump on accident while waking up from bed and stretching. I was 42, married, and a mother of a 10-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy. I tested negative for genetic testing and I had no history of breast cancer in my family. Within two weeks of my diagnosis my roller coaster ride had begun and I was admitted into the hospital so that a medi-port could be implanted in my chest for chemotherapy. My life has never been the same. As a mother diagnosed with cancer, the first thought that comes to your mind is your children and the fear that you will not be there for ...
