Let’s pretend you know nothing about Latino childhood obesity, but you want to learn. What do you do first? Google, of course. So you head online and type “Latino childhood obesity” in the search box. The No. 1 search result is Salud America! The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children, followed by the Salud America! Latino childhood obesity video at No. 2. The 3rd Annual Salud America! Scientific Summit on Sept. 14-16, 2011, in San Antonio, showcased several reasons why Salud America! is No. 1—the network continues to raise awareness of Latino childhood obesity, stimulate collaboration to combat the epidemic, and feature 20 research grantees. The summit highlighted the work of the 20 grantees and innovative experts ...
Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, recently discussed challenges and solutions to Latino childhood obesity as a guest on “Conversations on Health Care,” a weekly radio show airing in Connecticut, Minnesota and Michigan made possible by the Connecticut-based Community Health Center, Inc. The show features experts in health care innovation and reform. Dr. Ramirez talks about the Latino childhood obesity epidemic and her Salud America! program’s efforts to reduce the epidemic. Dr. Ramirez has spent 30 years directing many research programs focused on human and organizational communication to reduce chronic disease and cancer health disparities affecting Latinos. Listen to the ...
Parents, especially minorities, tend to underreport their children's weight, meaning estimates of obesity and body mass index (BMI) based on parent-supplied data may miss one in five obese children, according to research presented at the recent 57th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine. Researchers compared the measured height and weight of 1,430 children at a clinic with the values their parents reported. Almost half of the parents underestimated their child’s weight. Hispanic/Latino and black parents made larger errors than white ...
Check out these funding opportunities in childhood obesity research: People’s Garden School Pilot Program
The USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is making available $1 million for a People’s Garden School Pilot Program to teach students involved in the gardens about agriculture production practices, diet and nutrition, and more. Applications are due November 8, 2010. Ladder to Leadership
Ladder to Leadership: Developing the Next Generation of Community Health Leaders seeks to help local, early- to mid-career professionals serving vulnerable populations develop leadership skills. The next opening, for Kansas City, Mo., opens October 18 and closes December 17, 2010. Active Living Research Grants
Active Living Research, an RWJF national program, is seeking proposals for ...
Salud America! The RWJF Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children, which is led by the Institute for Health Promotion Research at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, is observing National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month and encouraging people to join us and get involved. Earlier this year, a resolution was unanimously passed in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate designating September as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, to bring attention to this growing epidemic. Mexican-American children are more likely to be obese or overweight (38%) than children overall (31.9%), putting them at greater risk for chronic disease and shorter lifespans. In repsonse, Salud America! formed in 2008 to increase the number of researchers, ...
More P.E. classes in schools? Taxes on snacks and sodas? The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is issuing a last call for suggestions on the best ways to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic. Share your thoughts in RWJF’s online forum, where our program officers are leading discussions about ensuring nutritious foods in schools, building more sidewalks and bike lanes, restricting food marketing, and unlocking school gyms and blacktops for community use outside of school hours. Give us your two cents before the forum ends this Monday, Aug. 16, 2010. More than 100 comments have been posted so far, with the topic of physical fitness in schools attracting the liveliest discussion. But what about other strategies, such as: Making certain foods and drinks cheaper—fruits, ...
The dramatic Salud America! "Did You Know" Latino childhood obesity video, which frames the challenges of the epidemic, already has won several film awards and been seen more than 5,000 times on YouTube. Now Latina author Barbara Trujillo Gomez has written about the video in a new blog post. Trujillo Gomez, author of "...Barbara por Atras" A Latin Woman's Guide to Fitness, wrote that the video sent chills up her spine and helped illustrate the reasons behind Latino childhood obesity.
How is it we can sit and continue to watch this happen? There is an epidemic in childhood obesity and Latinos are affected by far more so than non-Latino whites and African Americans. Our Latino kids are suffering from diabetes and heart disease, have a higher BMI, and indulging in junk food. Latinos ...
Check out this roundup of current funding opportunities in childhood obesity research: Ladder to Leadership
Ladder to Leadership: Developing the Next Generation of Community Health Leaders seeks to help local, early- to mid-career professionals serving vulnerable populations develop leadership skills. The current opening for New Jersey’s Greater Newark Area runs until July 2, 2010. Carol M. White Physical Education Program
The Carol M. White Physical Education Program provides grants to LEAs and community-based organizations to initiate, expand or enhance P.E. programs, including after-school programs, for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Applications are due July 19, 2010. Healthy Eating Research Grants
Healthy Eating Research, an RWJF national program, is ...
A dramatic video that uses shocking statistics and actual child voices to document the multi-faceted epidemic of Latino childhood obesity is earning prestigious film awards and recognition for the Institute for Health Promotion (IHPR) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. The video, titled “Did You Know?/¿Sabía Usted?” and developed by the IHPR’s Salud America! program, has won awards from the 2010 New York Festivals International Television & Film Awards, 2010 Aegis Video & Film Production Awards and the 31st Annual Telly Awards: Gold World Medal, “Human Concerns,” New York Festivals International
Television & Film Awards, May 3
Winner, “Training/Education,” Aegis Video & Film Production Awards, May 1
Bronze, ...
