Where you live matters for your health. The health of any population is determined by several factors including the physical, emotional, socioeconomic, and environmental circumstances in which they live. For U.S. Latinos, these factors can be daily challenges and cause poor health outcomes, especially for their children. As a result, Latino children have higher rates of obesity and diabetes and lower levels of physical activity than their non-Latino peers. These inequities are worsening amid the COVID-19 pandemic. These children also are at least twice as likely to be uninsured. "To help reverse these outcomes, it is important for Latino children and youth to enroll in health coverage and have access to preventive care. Children who have health coverage are shown to have ...
While the COVID-19 pandemic is making it harder for Latino and other families to get enough food to feed their families— called food insecurity—the new Pandemic Child Hunger Prevention Act could be a big help. The legislation, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on July 30, would make all students eligible for free school lunch and breakfast during the 2020-2021 school year. Free school meals will be available to students during remote learning through "grab and go" or meal delivery. "The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics believes that school meals are as important to learning as textbooks and pencils," said Academy President Linda T. Farr, in a statement. "In the midst of uncertain school reopening plans as a result of the COVID-19 national emergency, the ...
Does your town have a farmers market? How is it operating amid COVID-19? Farmers markets are a path to healthy food access. They are especially important now as the coronavirus pandemic worsens food insecurity. Fortunately, the Farmers Market Coalition is stepping up to support farmers markets. They're pushing for federal aid for markets, creating resources, and sharing how markets increase access to healthy, fresh produce and social connections, and engage farmers in the local economy. “There are benefits to visiting a farmers’ market in light of coronavirus … you’re outside, there’s fresh air moving, and the supply chain is shorter,” Yvonne Michael, an epidemiologist at Drexel University, told WHYY. For National Farmers Market Week on Aug. 2-8, 2020, we at Salud ...
A culture of health is where everyone has a fair, just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. This also achieves health equity. Is your community creating a culture of health? If so, apply for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Culture of Health Prize! The contest provides $25,000 to communities that unite neighborhood, school, and business partners to improve health for all residents. Apply by Oct.15, 2020.
Read about 2019 Winners
Three largely Latino cities won three of five 2019 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Culture of Health Prizes! Gonzales, Calif. (94% Latino), was chosen from nearly 200 applicants. Two other cities with large Latino populations—Lake County, Colo. (36% Latino) and Broward County, Fla. (30% Latino)—also won the health prize. ...
Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio, has been elected to a five-year term on the board of directors for the CDC Foundation. The CDC Foundation has facilitated over 1,700 partnerships, launched more than 1,000 programs, and raised over $900 million to help the CDC improve health around the world. Ramirez joins Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, vice president for Global Health at Emory University, as a new board member. "As the CDC Foundation continues to play an integral role in addressing domestic and global health challenges, including the current COVID-19 response, we are honored to have both Dr. Koplan and Dr. Ramirez join our board of directors," said Dr. Judith Monroe, president and chief executive officer of the CDC Foundation. "These two ...
American cities are failing at traffic safety—largely due to unsafe speeds. Urban arterials—roads that link major activity centers and highways—accounted for 29% of all U.S. fatal crashes between 2014 and 2018, despite making up only 6% of roadways. That’s why the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) developed City Limits, a framework for setting safe speed limits for city streets and providing strategies to manage speed. “Most speeds limits are set using an oversimplified and outdated method: measure 100 drivers traveling without any traffic and set the speed limit based on the 15th-fastest driver,” said Jenny O’Connell, NACTO Program Manager, according to a NACTO press release. “If this sounds like a system that would create ...
1 in 9 young people are at risk for youth disconnection—someone ages 16-24 years who is neither working or in school. The coronavirus is expected to widen this gap, especially for Latinos and communities of color. Without immediate action, the number of disconnected youth could grow to 1 in 4 young people, or 6 million youth. A recent report, A Decade Undone: Youth Disconnection in the Age of Coronavirus, highlights progress made over the last 10 years in connecting youth to opportunity. It also provides new details on findings at the state, county and local PUMAs (public use and microdata areas) level on youth disconnection. On Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020, let’s use #SaludTues to chat about ways to help Latino youth and their families stay connected amid the coronavirus ...
Many people are longing for an end to the turbulent COVID-19 pandemic. Thankfully, healthcare and government leaders are focusing their efforts and funding to develop a vaccine to halt transmission of the virus that has killed over 140,000 people in the U.S. A COVID-19 vaccine is a worthy goal, but leaders also must address one sad fact before any treatment is made available — the widespread disparity found among the racial makeup of those who are immunized and those who are not. "It's racial inequality — inequality in housing, inequality in employment, inequality in access to health care — that produced the underlying diseases," Dr. Dayna Bowen Matthew, dean of the George Washington University Law School—who has spent her career focusing on racial disparities in medical ...
U.S. Latinos are bearing an extraordinary burden of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Why is this? Health experts are trying to find an answer. They say the pandemic is worsening historical health and social inequities among Latinos and other people of color, affecting people of a certain age, and those who have diabetes, obesity, and cancer, as well as those who smoke. Now a study points to a new, but common, culprit: language barriers (and the healthcare system's failure to accommodate people who don't speak English).
Latinos Face Language Barriers During COVID-19 Pandemic
Language is a common barrier to health care. That's why Spanish translation is important in education, providing medical care, bullying prevention, healthcare access, and even podcasting. When it comes to ...
