Lots of small cities in California have taken two big steps to protect youth from smoking addiction and secondhand smoke —banning flavored tobacco products and smoking inside all apartment homes. Now San Jose will become the state’s largest city to take both steps. The San Jose City Council is expected to formally approve the bans during a vote on Oct. 5, according to The Mercury News. “The tobacco industry has a stronghold on our kiddos — enticing them with flavors and leading them to a life of addiction,” Councilwoman Magdalena Carrasco, a champion of the proposed ban, said Monday. “Banana split, Kool-aid, Hawaiian punch, gummy bears — all of these e-cigarette flavors may taste like candy but it’s poison to our children.”
San Jose’s New Ban on Smoking ...
Workforce inequities are nothing new for people of color, specifically Latinos. Long before COVID-19, many Latinos had unstable jobs with little-to-no benefits and lower wages than their white non-Latino coworkers. The pandemic made things worse. But one thing saved many Latino jobs—a labor union contract, according to a comparison of unionized and non-unionized Latino workers by UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Initiative. Labor unions are organizations of workers that come together to negotiate better working conditions or other benefits as a collective bargaining. “Our analysis suggests that unionization—even within the same industry and occupation—preserved employment and wages for workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for variations in ...
Early education can make a huge impact on the lives of children — especially its effects on economic opportunities, college prep, and finding a good-paying job. Yet it is far too common for Latinos and other disadvantaged students to face barriers for quality K-12 education. That’s why The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit policy organization, recently published five policy recommendations that can make a huge difference in the education of Latino students. “Latino students in particular constitute a significant and growing portion of the U.S. student population yet are often overlooked in education literature because they are not the lowest performing demographic,” the report states. “We considered factors that may’ve influenced student performance, including both ...
Health disparities have impacted Latinos for many years. Worse, the COVID-19 pandemic only worsened these inequities. Still, these issues have gained national attention, and, hopefully, spur action, change. Recently, experts from the National Institutes of Health and UT Health San Antonio joined our Salud Talks podcast to discuss the COVID-19, health inequities, and the struggles Latinos face in the US today. Listen to the Salud Talks Podcast, Salud Talks Podcast, Episode 37: “COVID-19 and Health Disparities Impacting Latinos,” as we dive into the health inequities affecting Latinos during the pandemic with two celebrated medical experts! listen! WHAT: A #SaludTalks discussion about the COVID-19, historic health disparities, and how these factors have impacted the ...
Hispanic? Latino? Latinx? People often debate the best term to use when describing the ethnicity of those who trace their heritage from Latin America and Spain, who comprise 18.5% of the U.S. population. “There’s no correct term to use, and appropriateness varies when using Latino, Hispanic, Latinx, or country of origin,” said Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio. Let’s talk about the origins of these terms, who uses them, and what the data says about this population’s own preferences.
The Origin of “Latino”
The term we use at Salud America! to describe this group is “Latino.” “Latino,” or the feminine “Latina,” is used to describe people with ancestry from Latin American countries. Unlike “Hispanic,” the ...
Hispanic Heritage Month is here! This annual U.S. observance, from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, celebrates the histories, cultures, and contributions of Americans whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. We at Salud America! invite you to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month in these awesome ways.
1. Learn How Hispanic Heritage Month Started
U.S. Congressmen Edward R. Roybal of Los Angeles and Henry B. Gonzales were among those who introduced legislation on the topic in 1968. President Lyndon Johnson implemented the observance as Hispanic Heritage Week that year. U.S. Rep. Esteban E. Torres of Pico Rivera proposed the observance be expanded to cover its current 30-day period. President Ronald Reagan implemented the expansion to Hispanic ...
When Gilberto Lopez was visiting his family in California at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, he realized his community wasn’t getting the information they needed about safety precautions. “Information that was coming through to my academic bubble, I call it ‘The Harvard Bubble,’ was completely different than the information about COVID that was coming down to the immigrant community,” said Lopez, who comes from a farm-working community in the Central Valley. He wanted to do something to make sure Latino communities learned about COVID-19 and vaccines in culturally relevant ways, like art. Lopez is an assistant professor at Arizona State University's School of Transborder Studies, where he focuses on the health and wellbeing of immigrant, Mexican communities in the ...
Pregnant Latinas have some of the lowest vaccination rates against COVID-19 compared to other ethnic/racial groups, according to a report from the CDC. The disparity is likely due to less culturally competent and accessible healthcare in communities of color, as well as vaccine misinformation about fertility and pregnancy. The CDC encourages all people who are eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and that pregnancy should not be a barrier. “COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for all people 12 years and older, including people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant now, or might become pregnant in the future,” according to the CDC’s website. With more culturally relevant resources regarding vaccine safety for fertility and pregnancy, vaccine ...
Combat COVID is a federal education initiative to share bilingual information and tips about vaccines, potential treatments, and clinical trials for COVID-19. A clinical trial is a research study to find a new treatment or achieve a better understand a disease. In the case of COVID-19, which has overly burdened Latinos and Blacks, clinical trials need more participants of color to ensure that COVID-19 treatments are effective for everyone. "Clinical trials are at the heart of many medical discoveries," according to the team at Combat COVID, run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "[Trials] are the key to protecting our communities now and in the future." Let's take a look at the work Combat COVID is doing.
Promoting Clinical Trails for COVID-19
Combat COVID ...
