Did you know that 1 of 2 Latino kids have cavities in their teeth? More Latino children and young adults ages 2-19 have cavities (57%) than their Black (48%), Asian (45%), and White (40%) peers. Cavities are not the only dental health disparity facing Latino children, either. They experience high rates of untreated tooth decay, poor rates of dental health care coverage, and more. “While the gaps have narrowed for some indicators, they have widened for many others, and equity in oral health status remains elusive. We can and should do better,” Dr. Scott Tomar of the University of Florida College of Dentistry, who analyzed 2019 CDC data, told Pew Charitable Trusts. To get to the bottom of oral health among Latino children, we first have to understand the disparities, the ...
Since childhood, Christina Duarte has wanted to help people. Helping people is why she became chief of health education and promotion for the Health Department of Laredo, Texas, a predominantly Latino city on the U.S.-Mexico border. When the coronavirus pandemic struck, Duarte immediately looked for ways to help her community, which struggled with disparities in COVID-19 case and death rates. So Duarte shifted the city’s in-person health classes to a virtual platform to help those at home during the height of the coronavirus quarantine. “Our participants continued to ask, ‘are you even going to have classes again? My mental health is at stake,’” she said. “Then the numbers increased. We started working on mental health preparedness here at the health department. ...
The CVS Health Foundation, American Heart Association, Alliance for a Healthier Generation have launched a new initiative to help reduce vaping in schools. The Tobacco-Free Schools Initiative gives schools resources that focus on positive reinforcement for tobacco cessation and prevention, rather than traditional forms of punishment. Addressing the rise in vaping and e-cigarette use for young people is urgent. “Youth vaping is one of the biggest obstacles we face in helping to create the first tobacco-free generation,” said Eileen Howard Boone, SVP of Corporate Social Responsibility and Philanthropy, CVS Health and President, CVS Health Foundation, in a press release. “Coming together with the American Heart Association and Healthier Generation allows us to support ...
Since the start of coronavirus’ spread throughout the country, Latinos have lacked the resources to battle against widespread rates of infection, death. Soon, that community will have a voice on President-Elect Joe Biden’s recently announced COVID-19 Taskforce, which includes two Latinos — Dr. Luciana Borio, former assistant FDA commissioner, and Dr. Robert Rodriguez, a professor of emergency medicine at UCSF School of Medicine. This kind of representation is critical to combat the horrific experiences Latinos and other people of color have experienced during this epidemic, especially as winter arrives, said Dr. Leana Wen, the former Baltimore health commissioner. “[Biden’s] work needs to begin right now. He needs to begin communicating the urgency of actions with the ...
With the election of Joe Biden, we expect to see a lot of national policy and system changes under the new presidential administration next year. But, right now, lots of changes are already happening locally. That’s because, during the election on Nov. 3, 2020, voters in cities and states passed local propositions. These have wide-ranging implications for education, economic recovery, criminal justice reform, and more, especially for Latinos and other communities of color.
Education and the 2020 Election
Childhood education took a high priority in many cities. San Antonio, a predominately Latino city, was one of them. Voters approved a one-eighth-cent sales tax to continue funding Pre-K 4 SA, the city’s full-day public preschool program. “Pre-K 4 SA serves 2,000 ...
Food insecurity and health disparities disproportionately affect lower income communities and communities of color. These disparities are only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Access to healthy food should be a universal right. It’s clear that we must reevaluate how food retail currently works in our country. We must rebuild a more equitable and just system. We can work together to promote food equity in our communities and across the country. This tweetchat coincides with the new release of a National Research Agenda on healthy food retail, published as a Special Journal Issue. Join #SaludTues at 1 p.m. ET on Nov. 17, 2020, to tweet about the importance of healthy food retail environments for advancing health equity. WHAT: #SaludTuesTweetchat: How a Healthy Food ...
The United States continues to see record-high rates of new coronavirus cases for a single day. The majority of those infected—a single-day record 144,000 new cases on Nov. 11 after a then-record 136,000 cases on Nov. 10 and 125,000 new cases on Nov. 6—come from the Latino community. Worse, that community has also experienced the pandemic’s harshest outcomes, including economic impacts, social upheaval, and, most significantly, mortality rates. The hard data, which illustrates the unthinkable disparities hurting people of color amid COVID-19, should aptly illustrate these problems, according to Dr. Rogelio Sáenz, a professor of demography at the University of Texas at San Antonio. “One thing is certain,” Sáenz writes in a recent piece for Poynter. “Americans of ...
8 million people are leaving the workforce to take care of elderly family members. These caregivers will enter an extremely high-stress situation. Latino caregivers may spend more hours a week meeting their sick relative’s needs, than caregivers from other ethnic groups. For National Family Caregivers Month in November, let’s use #SaludTues on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020, to tweet about how we can address the problems and solutions to help caregivers! WHAT: #SaludTues: Let's Celebrate Our Caregivers!
TIME/DATE: 1-2 p.m. EST (Noon-1 p.m. CST), Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag #SaludTues
HOST: @SaludAmerica
CO-HOSTS: @UsA2_Latinos, @DiverseElders, @VocesenSalud, @SAresearch, @AlzheimersLA, @Wellmedgives
Special Guest: Ernesto Quintero
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As we reach the seventh month of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers are pointing to a new cause in an uptick of cases: pandemic fatigue. “Pandemic fatigue refers to feeling overwhelmed with still having to maintain a state of constant vigilance, in this case six months after the pandemic started, and a weariness to abide by restrictions,” according to Gavi Vaccine Alliance. Understandably, people are tired of the daily inconveniences caused by avoiding the COVID-19 virus and want their lives to return to normal. However, if we fall complacent and begin disregarding guidance from public health officials, we take part in moral disengagement and it becomes more difficult for our communities to put an end to COVID-19. When we disengage morally from safety and virus prevention, ...
