In Vhembe-Mutale school district, sugary drinks have been banned since the beginning of the school year. The change has been successful and popular according to Health24, as parents like Tambulani Mbedzi explained that her child was suffering from headaches and found out that it was due to drinking a lot of sugary drinks at school being sold by hawkers. Children would buy two or three bottles of sugary drinks at a lower price from these hawkers that were selling sugary drinks to kids at school. The deputy principal at the school, Rendani Nemufulwi complained that because of these hawkers, that would even try to sell to kids secretly, kids were drinking tons of sugary drinks at the school and were less inclined to eat nutritious foods. Parents are happy about the changes, ...
Latinos and others living in rural areas are more likely to die from heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, stroke, and unintentional injuries than their urban counterparts. These top-five causes of death account for 62% of all U.S. deaths. Among those living in rural areas, over 70,000 of these deaths were preventable, The Washington Post reports on a CDC study, including 25,000 individuals who died from heart disease and 19,000 who died from cancer. Although just 15% of the U.S. population is considered rural, they tend to be older, in poorer health, have less income and healthcare, and weight more, smoke more, and have higher blood pressure than the urban population, the Post reports. Latinos face even higher risks of heart diseases because of the disparities in ...
People living in rural areas are more likely to die from heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, stroke, and unintentional injuries than their urban counterparts. The top five causes of death accounted for more than 1.5 million deaths in the United States in 2014. This figure accounts for 62% of all the deaths in the country at that time. Among those living in rural areas, over 70,000 of these deaths were preventable, The Washington Post reports. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) determined that of the preventable deaths, 25,000 individuals died from heart disease and 19,000 died from cancer. Latinos face even higher risks of cardiovascular diseases because of the disparities in high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes compared to whites. Cancer is the ...
Financial stress has been linked to numerous negative health concerns. The stress felt from financial pressure can affect appetites and sleep patterns and greatly impact overall physical and mental well-being. One of the most pressing financial stressors people deal with stems from paying for housing. IN rural areas, the difficulties of finding affordable housing is often exacerbated. However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently invested over $74 million to build and preserve affordable rural rental housing for families across the country. In order to reduce health disparities, it is critical to address inequities in programs, practices, and policies. Join our site, connect with others, and get involved. “[The] USDA's multi-family housing program has ...
MHP and Alice Independent School District partnered to create a shared use agreement. This would make school-owned recreational areas—gyms, playgrounds, parks, and walking trails—available to the public after school hours, adding a much-needed physical activity option in an area that faces high rates of obesity and related health complications.
The Need for More Places for Physical Activity
Awareness: Robert De Leon, a former program director at MHP—an organization that has provided leadership in health promotion and program development for farmworkers and their families and other communities since 1983—was increasingly concerned about high obesity rates in South Texas. In 2011, MHP applied for a Texas Health Initiative’s Community Transformation Grant to focus new ...
A lot of the time a cancer survivor’s story goes: “I felt a lump in my breast, I got it checked out, and it was breast cancer.”
That’s not the story of Deb Blake-Ontiveros.
The single mother visited a doctor after she felt a lump in her breast. But her doctor dismissed it as something else.
Two years passed before Deb was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“If we go back in time ... and I would have been maybe a little bit less distracted with the baby and more like, ‘Hey, I think I would like further screening’ that could have been the change there. But that's the reality, though,” Deb told Salud America!
That reality is that some women with breast cancer, especially young Latinas whose symptoms often go ignored or misdiagnosed, never get to ring the bell.
For Deb, ...
As of 2025, Latinos make up 20% of the U.S. population. In some areas, like California, Latinos comprise 40% of the population and are expected to rise to 50% by 2050, according to the National Latino Physician Day website. Many of these populations encounter hurdles to healthcare, including language, access, and more, leading to worse health outcomes. One way to address this is by increasing the number of Latino physicians, who only make up 6% of the physician workforce. As the nation continues to experience a shortage of health care workers, how do we increase the number of Latino physicians? That’s something National Latino Physician Day on Oct. 1, 2026, is striving to bring awareness to every year.
How Did National Latino Physician Day ...
Over the past 20 years, the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio has worked to improve health in South Texas and beyond. The IHPR, under the leadership of Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, built the nation’s first digital health communications program on Latino health, saved lives with culturally relevant patient navigation for women, helped people quit smoking, and more. For its 20th anniversary on Oct. 1, 2026, let’s celebrate some of our biggest milestones! Read our new booklet!
IHPR Creates the Salud America! National Digital Communications Program
Just a year into its existence, the IHPR team created the Salud America! program. The program, funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2007, became the first national digital ...
Latinos are not proportionally represented in research, nursing, and doctoral fields, even though they make up 20% of the U.S. population. The Éxito! program aimed to fill that gap. Éxito!, created by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez of the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) at UT Health San Antonio, recruited 226 students and health professionals over 11 years for a culturally tailored curriculum to promote pursuit of a doctoral degree and Latino cancer research career. With the 20th anniversary of the IHPR on Oct. 1, 2026, now is a good time to check in and see some Éxito! trainees have progressed!
About the Éxito! Program at the IHPR
Each year from 2011 to 2021, the IHPR’s Éxito! program hosted a five-day summer institute in San Antonio, Texas. The event ...
