A soda tax aims to reduce sugary drink consumption and boost public health. In a new twist, Seattle is using soda tax revenues to give emergency $800 grocery vouchers for 6,250 families amid the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, Next City reports. City leaders mailed a $400 voucher in March 2020 for families to buy groceries at Safeway. They will send a second $400 voucher this month. Mayor Jenny Durkan called this rapid-response to coronavirus "remarkable." “As schools and child care facilities close, we need to do everything we can to support families and ensure they can put food on the table,” Durkan said, Next City reports.
Sugary drinks do not contribute to good health, especially among Latinos, according to a Salud America! research review.
Let's examine how soda ...
With the rise of COVID-19, our team at Salud America! is digitally curating content about what the coronavirus pandemic means for Latino health equity. We want to ensure Latinos get an equitable share of culturally relevant information. You can do your part! Share our Latino COVID-19 Vaccine "Change of Heart" Bilingual Storytelling Campaign in English or Spanish. We hope to move Latinos from vaccine hesitancy to vaccine confidence through telling stories of real Latinos who ended up getting the vaccine! Share our "Juntos, We Can Stop COVID-19" bilingual campaign to stop the spread! Share our infographic on 8 ways coronavirus impacts Latinos (English | Spanish).
Follow our content that has increased exposure to Latino health equity amid the pandemic, according to a ...
Health experts say smoking and vaping weakens the function of the lungs and could leave people more susceptible to coronavirus (COVID-19), which has sickened many and continues to spread around the world. Coronavirus is now a pandemic, according to the World Health Organization. Serious consequences of COVID-19 feature pneumonia and affects the lung function, and is especially worrysome for those with weak lung or immune systems, reports Guardian Australia. Basically, this means now is a good time to quit smoking. "For most respiratory infections, you worry about people who smoke a bit more," said UK Professor Christopher Whitty, The Tab reports. "They’re more likely to get [coronavirus] and their immune system is less good."
Are Smokers More Susceptible to Coronavirus ...
For years, bike share programs have shown sharp divisions along race and class lines. Bike share stations are often located in whiter, wealthier neighborhoods. Whiter, wealthier individuals are far more likely users than those of color. That’s why cities are working to improve equity of bike share programs. In fact, 60% of bike share systems had specific programs to address equity, according to the National Scan of Bike Share Equity Programs from the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC). But these systems rarely set or tracked outcomes on equity. Below are six ways to correct bike share’s social equity problem, based on examples from the TREC report to help bike share systems move toward equity and from Shared-Use Mobility Center’s list of efforts to ...
A soda tax can stir up controversy. Health experts say they curb consumption of unhealthy sugary drinks. Detractors say they're bad for local businesses. Many don't like taxes in any instance. But most people miss what happens after soda tax revenue comes in. That's why we are excited to share a new video series, Health Investments for Berkeley, which celebrates the community-led public health work paid for, in part, by the nation's first-ever soda tax enacted in Berkeley, Calif., in 2014. The series, created by the Praxis Project, an Oakland health justice group, has four parts: Berkeley Unified School District
Healthy Black Families
Multicultural Institute
Ecology Center "This series is intended to flip the national narrative around soda taxes that ...
“I feel like my life is threatened at each intersection.” That is what Andreas Addison said about walking the streets and relying on mass transit during his #NoCarNovember experiences in Richmond, Va., where he is a city council member. He wanted safer streets and more frequent transit for his constituents. So Addison found two models he liked─a D.C. city leader’s omnibus bill (one that combines several measures into one package) for better transit, more walkability, and less car reliance, and Virginia Commonwealth University’s work to make campus safer for pedestrians. Addison then began working on an omnibus bill of his own to create a safer environment for people walking, biking, and taking the bus in Richmond.
Unfair Social and Health Outcomes in Richmond
Life ...
Mounting health concerns over teen vaping recently led the U.S. Congress to raise the purchasing age for all tobacco products—including e-cigarettes—from 18 to 21. Now a national ban on many flavored e-cigarette products went into effect on Feb. 6, 2020. The ban covers a number of what some health experts call "kid-friendly flavorings," such as mint and fruit. Still, other flavors, such as menthol and tobacco flavorings, remain legal. The prohibited products won't be allowed to return to the market until or unless they get clearance from the Food and Drug Administration. That agency review could take months or years. By May 2020, U.S. e-cigarette companies will have to receive approval from the FDA to determine whether they're allowed to stay on the market. A big ...
Have you really explored our Salud America! website? We’re excited to announce our website—with daily news, stories, actions, and weekly podcasts and tweetchats to improve health equity for Latino and all families—has won a "Websites, Health Category, Silver Award” from the 2019 W³ Awards! The W³ Awards celebrate digital excellence by creators of all sizes and their websites, web marketing, video, and social content. They are sanctioned and judged by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts. Salud America! is led by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, professor and director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio. “We’re excited by the ongoing stamp of approval for our health equity communication work from groups like the Academy of ...
Our food systems affect our health in good and bad ways. For example, some of the most severe health impacts of food systems trace back to some of the core industrial food and farming practices. These include chemical-intensive agriculture, intensive livestock production, and mass production and marketing of processed foods. That is why the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES Food) published a report to identify five ways our current food systems make us sick, seven challenges to understanding and addressing them, and five leverage points for building healthier food systems. Here are five ways our current food system makes us sick:
1. People Get Sick Because They Work in Unhealthy Conditions
Pesticides are responsible for an estimated 200,000 acute ...
