While U.S. obesity rates appear to have leveled off, Hispanics and Blacks have strikingly higher obesity rates than their White and Asian peers, Bloomberg reports. The good news is that overall adult obesity is not rising. About one-third of American adults (about 78 million people) are obese, about the same number as across the last decade, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report was led by researcher Dr. Cynthia L. Ogden. But racial/ethnic disparities in obesity rates continue to be alarming. About 43 percent of Hispanics and 48 percent of blacks are obese, compared with 33 percent of whites and 11 percent of Asians, Bloomberg reports. Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director the Salud ...
You're invited to join a Twitter Chat with two top researchers who will focus on disparities in breast cancer among minorities. The chat, from 4-5 p.m. central on Oct. 7, 2013, is co-hosted by Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR). Two researchers will head the event: Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, will address breast cancer among Latinas, particularly why they tend to suffer more late-stage disease.
Dr. Christopher Li, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, is an epidemiologist studying breast cancer outcomes and survivorship. Ask questions and follow live on Twitter using the hashtag #BCDisparities. You also can follow the chat via the ...
Community, school, and city officials worked together to develop a shared use agreement to use school grounds to create a community park at Sky Harbour Elementary School in San Antonio, Texas, with a playground, exercise equipment, trails, and an amphitheater that is open after school hours. The effort illustrates how city officials, a non-profit organization, a school district, a P.E. coach, students, parents, and members from the community can work together to bring important improvements to the physical environment that can increase local options for physical activity. Each of these stakeholders saw the need for more play space in the community and supported a shared use agreement to guarantee access to Sky Harbour’s recreational facilities on school grounds after school hours. From ...
To raise the awareness of colorectal and cervical cancers and increase prevention and early detection among Latinos, the University Health System (UHS) in San Antonio, Texas, has produced several public service announcements (PSAs) in both Spanish and English as part of its A Su Salud San Antonio campaign. The PSAs are being aired across the region and are now on the UHS YouTube page. Here is one of the cervical cancer PSAs in English and another in Spanish. Here is one of the colorectal cancer PSAs in English and another in ...
Healthy nutritional standards are vital for school districts, but the Wenatchee School District in Washington wasn’t providing the healthiest food environment it could for its 7,000-plus students. That is, until Kent Getzin, the district’s Director of Food Services, pushed for improvements to the district’s school wellness policy. Given that the state of Washington closely aligned with the national trend of one of three children being obese, Getzin seized the opportunity to educate school officials and parents on creating a healthier food culture in a district with a 46.2% Latino student population and 60% of students depending on free or reduced lunch. Getzin set his sights on updating the district’s outdated nutritional standards and emphasized continual support for ...
Parent organization Real Food for Kids (RFFK) aims to improve the nutritional quality of food served at the public schools in Fairfax County, Va. These parents want all students to get healthy, fresh food that will fuel their bodies for physical and educational performance. As stated on their website: “We know, just as you do, that when a child is well-fed with nutritious, real food, he/she is healthier, better behaved and better able to succeed in and out of the classroom.” By doing research and educating themselves, they discovered the volume and breadth of processed foods and foods with artificial dyes and additives being served at their schools, even though these foods were allowed by USDA nutrition guidelines for school lunches. The parent group advocated for a new ...
What happens when a school district’s wellness policy doesn’t cover student sports games or other after-school events? In one district in San Antonio, a Latino-majority city with approximately 63% of the residents being of Latino or Hispanic origin, a school board president drove a policy change to implement healthier menu options at concession stands during school-sanctioned after-school events. With the support of various school officials, parents, and students, the new menu extends the district’s already-strong wellness policy to after-school hours and allows healthier items for students and parents.
EMERGENCE
Awareness: In San Antonio, Texas, the North East Independent School District (NEISD), which has a population of about 67,000 students, of which 55 percent are ...
Cervical cancer is most frequently diagnosed in Latinas, and black women tend to have lower 5-year survival rates and die more often than any other race, according to a news report in the Chicago Defender. However, the disease is preventable. Here are six ways the article lists to reduce your cervical cancer risk: 1. Get a regular Pap smear.
2. Follow up on abnormal Pap smears.
3. If you are sexually active, use a condom.
4. Limit the amount of sexual partners you have.
5. Quit smoking or avoid secondhand smoke.
6. Get the HPV vaccine. Regarding the HPV vaccine, according to the article: "Two vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, have been approved for use in girls and young women to help prevent cervical cancer. Gardasil immunizes against certain strains of HPV which cause 70% of cervical ...
Are you a cancer researcher? You're invited to join a free webinar to learn more recruiting minorities into clinical research. The webinar, which is at 11 a.m. CST (9 a.m. PST) on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013, is hosted by Redes En Acción, a Latino cancer research network funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and based at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, to highlight critical challenges that must be addressed to accelerate the advancement of the science of recruitment and retention of ethnically diverse populations into clinical studies. For the webinar, Redes researchers will present evidence of the relative lack of attention by researchers to recruitment and retention of ethnically diverse populations and what we ...
