As the American people still grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, medical experts are now in the process of distributing a booster shot, which many say can help. The booster shot is critical in making headway with bringing the pandemic to an end, according to Dr. Anthony Faucci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Chief Medical Advisor to the President. "I’ve made it clear that my opinion has always been that I believe that a third-shot booster for a two-dose mRNA [vaccine] should ultimately and will ultimately be the proper, complete regimen," he said in a recent interview with The Atlantic. "The vaccine is very successful. The durability of it is something that’s a subject of considerable discussion and sometimes debate." As the ...
We have updated our Health Equity Report Card to include place-based information on your county’s Social Vulnerability Index Score and COVID-19 cases, deaths, and hospitalizations. The Salud America! Health Equity Report Card, first launched in 2017, auto-generates Latino-focused and local data with interactive maps and comparative gauges, which can help you visualize and explore inequities in housing, transit, poverty, health care, food, and education. You will see how your county stacks up in these health equity issues — now including social vulnerability and COVID-19 — compared to your state and the nation. Then you can share the Report Card with your local leaders to advocate for healthy change! Get your Health Equity Report Card!
Why We Need to Consider ...
Healthcare spending is disproportionately skewed toward white people, with less money spent on Latino patients, according to new research from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and others. “This study found statistically significant differences in estimated healthcare spending across six race/ethnicity groups, with differences present for total spending, age-standardized spending, spending by type of care, and health-condition-specific spending per notified case,” according to the study. The disparity has significant implications for policies needed for equity in healthcare spending. “Despite making up 18.5% of the U.S. population, only 11% of healthcare spending goes toward Latinos. We can address this disparity by examining the ...
By Andrea Reichl
Breast Cancer Survivor in San Antonio On June 8, 2015 I got the dreaded call that would change my my world as I knew it. I had only been 38 for one month and cancer never even crossed my mind as a possibility. I previously have had a mammogram and ultrasound annually due to a lump that was being monitored since my early 20s. Six months after my last mammogram my nipple became red and itchy. My gynecologist sent me to a breast specialist, who rudely told me it was because I didn’t have babies. It was devastating to hear that because she was unaware that for over 10 years my husband and I tried to have kids, unsuccessfully. She prescribed me a cream that didn’t work. I decided to go back to my gynecologist as things just didn’t feel right, and I ...
Gun violence claims many lives every year. 69,519 U.S. Latinos were killed with guns from 1999 through 2019, according to a new report from Violence Policy Center (VPC). The report, which also analyzed lethal gunfire data from 2019 by race/ethnicity, found Latinos have a nearly twice-as-high homicide victimization rate (5.15 per 100,000) than whites (2.62). Most homicides involved firearms, and Latino victims were often youths or young adults. This issue warrants legislative attention, as too many people still suffer at the hands of guns, according to Josh Sugarman, executive director at VPC. “A lot of states have not adjusted the way that they approach violence prevention and issues associated with their increasing Latino population,” Sugarman said. “The reason we do ...
Poverty rates among Latino families have grown immensely during the pandemic. The rates are worst for the children of Latino immigrants, according to new data from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families (Center). The disparity is mainly due to the heavy economic impact that the pandemic has had on immigrant families. “The increase in poverty rates among Latino children in immigrant families during the pandemic reflects, in part, a confluence of factors in the labor market,” according to the Center. There may also be a stigma against seeking federal assistance as well as a fear of the expired public charge rule. With equitable policies that target economic recovery for immigrants and education about the end of public charge, we can address these ...
During COVID-19, many people were laid off or faced reduced work. Latinas suffered the biggest drop in workforce size of any demographic group, according to UCLA Latino Police and Politics Initiative (UCLA LPPI), a Latino-focused think tank. This could have a long-lasting impact on Latina wellbeing, labor shortages, and economic recovery overall, said Sonja Diaz, the founding director of UCLA LPPI. “Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic really created a ripple effect of economic disruption in particular on communities by race, and then again, by gender,” Diaz told ABC News. “The real story here is the fact that Latinas have left the labor market, which is akin to dropping out of college. It’s really hard to get those individuals back in, and [have] a pathway towards ...
Obesity is linked to serious health consequences. The 47% of U.S. Latinos who have obesity are at higher risk for high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and certain cancers. Now we're learning that obesity and heart factors combine to cause cognitive decline in Latinos, according to a recent study in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. Researchers studied cognitive exams at two time points — seven years apart —from over 6,000 participants in the Study of Latinos-Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging (SOL-INCA). They also tested participants for obesity cardiometabolic abnormality, which is two or more of high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglycerides, and low “good” cholesterol. They found ...
Many Latino families don’t have access to healthy, nutritious foods. To put food on the table, they rely on government food aid programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). SNAP and WIC can improve diets and help raise people out of poverty. But many people of color don’t participate, even if eligible. Now two congresswomen of color — Reps. Jahana Hayes and Jenniffer González-Colón — introduced the WIC for Kids Act to eliminate barriers to enrollment for millions of pregnant women, mothers, and children, improve child and maternal health, and increase food access. “I introduced the WIC for Kids Act of 2021 to make it less burdensome on families to enroll ...
