SaludToday at APHA: Latino Childhood Obesity

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Here is a quick summary of the Latino-related program presented by Dr. Amelie Ramirez (pictured), a SaludToday and Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) investigator, at this week’s APHA meeting in Philadelphia:

Latino children, who belong to the largest, youngest and fastest-growing U.S. minority group, have one of the highest rates of obesity. Recent data shows that 38 percent of Mexican-American children are obese or overweight, compared with 30.7 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 34.9 percent of African-American children. Unfortunately, there is insufficient data available for other Latino subgroups.

Dr. Ramirez talked about how, in response to this issue, she developed Salud America! The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children. Salud America! works with researchers, health groups, individual advocates, community leaders, and other RWJF national programs to bridge the gap in the amount of research and data available on Latinos.

Salud America! has developed a network of more than 1,500 researchers and stakeholders whose findings will help identify the most promising obesity-prevention strategies specifically for Latinos. The program conducted a national Delphi survey to identify and assess the top priorities for research aimed at preventing obesity among Latino children.

Using these priorities, RWJF, through Salud America!, funded 20 pilot investigators to conduct research and identify the most promising policy-relevant strategies to reduce and prevent obesity among Latino children. Projects started July 1, 2009. Learn about the grantees here.