In a world in need of optimism, Blanca Chavez is a shining beacon of positivity. Based on her upbeat grandfather’s legacy and her father’s goal-oriented example, Chavez believes that good health is a human right. She wants to reframe negative concepts into stigma-busting, health-boosting solutions. Before starting her master’s degree in public health, Chavez worked at community health centers throughout Washington to improve the quality of care among immigrant populations. Chavez, a proud bicultural and bilingual Chicana from Washington, said the accounts of cancer that she witnessed in the communities she has lived and served give her motivation to specifically focus on the elimination of cancer disparities. To further her goals, Chavez applied for the Éxito! Latino ...
Latinos suffer fast differences in health and social conditions compared to other racial and ethnic groups, particularly whites. These differences, called health disparities, are rooted in social disadvantage and are often unavoidable. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) in Boston, Mass. (18.81% Latino population), has released a new report discussing the growing health and income disparities in the area. Some of the report’s findings include new stats about the rapidly rising rates of youth asthma hospitalizations in Greater Boston. According to the findings, the rate has increased by 22 hospitalizations per 100,000 from 2003-2007 to 2008-2012. One of the chief causes has been the growing number of Latino youth asthma cases. “In the asthma arena what [the findings] ...
Salud America! The RWJF Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children has received a one-year, $1.5 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to develop culturally tailored educational content and tools that empower people to work for policy changes to help Latino children grow up healthy. Salud America!, established in 2007 and based at UT Health San Antonio, has a national online network of 100,000 parents, school and academic personnel, and community leaders who support its mission: “Promote a healthy weight for Latino children by communicating good health and driving people to start healthy changes in their schools and communities.” The new funding will allow Salud America! to expand its network and engage members with enhanced educational ...
A new study looking at 24 corner stores in disadvantaged neighborhoods and two wholesale stores in Baltimore City, Maryland were tested on the impact of how store-directed price discounts and communications strategies impact healthy food supply and demand. The study, published in Public Health Nutrition reported that stores that used healthy marketing and discounts on healthy foods did, in fact, impact the supply and demand of healthier foods in stores. The stores were randomized into categories including pricing interventions, communication interventions, combined pricing and communications interventions, and a control store. During the 6 month trail, communication stores promoted healthy items with signage, taste tests, and refrigerators. The pricing intervention stores were ...
How we get around each day shapes our physical and mental health, and overall quality of life. Walkable communities are consistently found to be healthier communities. Demand for walkability has steadily increased. Regional transportation planning agencies and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) play a critical role in planning and constructing more convenient, attractive, and safe places to walk or bike for transportation, recreation, and/or health because they are the gatekeepers of billions of transportation dollars. The American Public Health Association and Transportation for America developed a policy paper outlining four policy levers for MPOs to prioritize health in their plans, projects, and policies to decrease health disparities and increase access to local ...
Two years after Mexico implemented a soda tax, sugary drink consumption has decreased shows a new study. According to the researchers at the University of North Carolina's Gillings School of Global Public Health and the Executive Director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Michael Jacobson, the taxes are decreasing soda purchases as much as 5% in the first year of the tax and 4% in the second year. Sugary beverages are a danger for Latino kids in America, where studies show 74% of Latinos have had a sugary drink by age 2 and Latino kids ages 0-5 years old consume more sugary drinks than the overall average. Experts warn that sugary drinks bring increased risks for children and teens, who often face higher risks for unhealthy weights, heart disease, high blood ...
New York native Richard Gamarra spent seven years in prison after falling victim to the lures of gangs, drugs, and money. But he used his time in prison wisely. He continued his education and took an interest in public health, specifically the effects of drugs, violence, mass incarceration, and solitary confinement on mental health. Now outside of the prison walls, Gamarra has overcome his early-life troubles with an encouraging, pay-it-forward attitude and has earned a master’s degree in public health at Columbia University in the Ivy League. "The former Latin King gangbanger, after seven years behind bars for assault and weapon convictions, [graduated May 17, 2017] from Columbia University’s renowned Mailman School of Public Health," according to a great profile of ...
New guidelines are out from Healthy Eating Research (HER) for Health Professionals on infant and toddler feeding. Evidence shows that the first 1,000 days or the period from conception to age two for children are critical in obesity prevention. Many Latino children often deal with unhealthy weights due to more consumption of sugary drinks, less access to healthy foods and limited breastfeeding opportunities. With the new evidence-based guidelines from HER parents can find out what and how to feed infants and toddlers as well as how to address screen time, media use, sleep and other topics that impact childhood weight outcomes. Some of the main recommendations of the review include: Encouraging breastfeeding from birth until 6 months and after adding complimentary foods, ...
In addition to breastfeeding, research suggests that other factors that may also play a critical role in helping Latino kids achieve a healthy weight by kindergarten: mothers’ physical activity and healthy eating habits before and during pregnancy, formula marketing, maternity leave, and kids’ healthy eating and physical activity habits established during early childhood. An expert panel, convened by Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, developed Feeding Guidelines for Infants and Young Toddlers, a report of evidence-based recommendations for promoting healthy nutrition and feeding patterns for infants and toddlers. These guidelines can be used by parents and caregivers in the home, as well as be applied in child-care settings where ...
