In nearly every community across the country, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is working to increase access to affordable, quality health care. For Latinos, an estimated 8 in 10 who were previously uninsured qualified for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP), or lower costs on monthly premiums through the Health Insurance Marketplace. To date, over 4 million Latinos (ages 18-64) have gained health coverage, lowering the overall uninsured rate among Latinos by nearly 8%. Also, over 913,000 Latino adults 19-26, who would have previously been uninsured, now have coverage under their parents’ plans. Getting health insurance is an important first step for overall better health. Once you have your coverage, how do you make it “work” for you? The U.S. Centers for ...
Raising Women’s Voices (RWV), a national initiative working to make sure women’s voices are heard and women’s concerns are addressed as policymakers put healthcare laws into action, has finished preparation of Mi Salud, Mi Voz: Una Guía Paso a Paso Para Mujeres Sobre Cómo Usar el Seguro Médico. This guide is a Spanish translation of many popular health literacy materials. RWV Regional Field Manager Cecilia Saenz Becerra worked with three translators—Tony Macias, Jen Hofer, and Lucy Acevedo to produce the Spanish-language guide. “Working with the team of translators, we used Spanish language that was precise and accurate, while also trying to make it accessible to diverse Spanish-language readers,” she explained. Mi Salud, Mi Voz: Una Guía Paso a Paso Para Mujeres ...
A team of researchers studying preterm infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at St. Louis Children’s Hospital found that premature babies whose daily diets consisted of 50 percent breast milk had more brain tissue by their due dates than premature babies who consumed significantly less breast milk. One notable finding is that researchers didn’t distinguish between milk from the babies’ own mothers and milk donated by other women. Breastfeeding has numerous positive effects on children, one of which is reduce risk for obesity. The researchers plan to follow these babies through their first years of life to look at their growth and motor, cognitive, and social development, because researchers believe they will be able to determine the effects of early exposure ...
On Monday, April 4, 2016, New York (18.6% Latino) passed the nation's best paid family leave policy-part of the 2016-2017 State Budget. "When fully phased-in, employees will be eligible for 12 weeks of paid leave when caring for an infant, a family member with a serious health condition, or to relieve family pressures when someone is called to active military service." The purpose of this bill is to help workers take care of their families without worrying about losing their paycheck, paid maternity leave included. The Unites States is one of three countries-out of 185-that does not provide paid maternity leave. Lack of maternity leave is one of many barriers Latina mom's face to breastfeed. Providing maternity leave could have a profound affect on Latino health. According ...
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released their second annual evaluation report for the Strong Start for Mothers and Newborns Strategy II Initiative. Strong Start is an initiative testing innovative prenatal care enhancements to improve maternal and infant health outcomes in low-income families, particularly to to reduce incidence of preterm birth and low birth weight. Among findings regarding lower rates of cesarean sections are higher rates of breastfeeding than national averages among similar populations. This is likely due to prenatal care enhancements that addressed psychosocial needs, such as care coordination, referrals to local resources, prenatal health education, and peer support for CHIP and Medicaid eligible women. For example, the Special ...
The Texas Ten Step Star Achiever Training Toolkit is a step-by-step training kit to help Texas birthing facilities and staff implement each of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding to support in a facility-wide paradigm shift toward increased breastfeeding support and exclusivity. "This toolkit includes detailed definitions of each step, rationales and strategies for implementation, and resources for further reading and review. It is recommended that you approach the steps and the goals in the manner best suited to your facility. For instance, it is not necessary to work through the steps sequentially. Instead, create a plan for implementation that is most appropriate and effective in the context of your facility, staff, patients and community." Access the toolkit ...
More Latino kids ages 2-5 are overweight/obese (30%) than white kids (21%). That’s because of maternal obesity, less exclusive breastfeeding, and workplace and childcare issues, according to a new package of research from Salud America!, a national network for Latino childhood obesity prevention funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and based at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. Salud America!’s Healthy Weight by Kindergarten for Latino Kids research shows that half of Latinas are overweight/obese when they get pregnant. Obese Latina moms gave birth to kids who were 1.8 times more likely to be obese than their peers. Breastfeeding can reduce obesity by 47% among Latino kids, but Latina moms are less likely than white moms to exclusively breastfeed their ...
This is part of our Latina Mom and Baby Health: A Research Review »
Maternal obesity a factor
Studies have shown that maternal obesity and lower social class are both associated with a tendency to formula feed and a greater risk of obesity in children.4 In fact, parental obesity is considered a strong predictor of obesity in offspring, which can be due to both environmental and genetic components.5,6 Results from the Viva La Familia Study in 2009 outlined genetic and environmental risk factors linked to childhood obesity in 1,030 Latino children from Houston.7 Findings confirmed that maternal obesity was indeed an independent risk factor for childhood obesity within this population; Latina mothers ≥30 kg/m2 gave birth to children that were 1.8 times more likely to be ...
This is part of our Latina Mom and Baby Health: A Research Review »
Introduction
In the United States, obesity continues to be a nationwide problem, where Latino children and adolescents are particularly at risk. According to a recent estimate, nearly 40 percent of U.S. Latino youths ages 2-19 are overweight or obese, compared with only 28.5 percent of non-Latino white youths.1 Furthermore, the percentage of those who are overweight or obese between ages 2-5 is nearly 30 percent for Latino children compared with only 21 percent of non-Latino white children.1 The high prevalence of obesity among Latino children and adolescents is of great concern due to the numerous adverse physical and mental health issues related to obesity, such as cardiovascular disease, asthma, type 2 diabetes, ...
