The term “infectious disease” covers a wide range of harmful illnesses. Influenza, chickenpox, and COVID-19 are some infectious diseases caused by germs or viruses that sicken people and can spread to others. Latinos face a heavier burden than their peers for several infectious diseases, from HIV/AIDS to coronavirus to tuberculosis. Fortunately, we can each do our part to prevent infectious disease — including learning more about them. “Infectious disease may be an unavoidable fact of life, but there are many strategies available to help us protect ourselves from infection and to treat a disease once it has developed,” according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
What is Infectious Disease?
The kinds of organisms that can transmit infectious ...
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, public health experts are focusing on addressing concerns with vaccine efficacy and safety for those who remain hesitant. That’s why the Societal Experts Action Network (SEAN) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has put together a toolkit of communication strategies for people who are unsure about the vaccine, parents who are thinking of vaccinating their children, and strategies for engaging with specific communities, such as Latinos. “In a rapidly evolving situation, where new evidence is continually emerging, state and local decision makers must be ready to frequently adjust and adapt their communication and messaging strategies to meet public needs,” write the authors of the toolkit, Emily Brunson, ...
Día de los Muertos, also known as Day of the Dead, is a lively annual Mexican holiday that celebrates friends and family members who have passed away. Characterized by vibrant parades, singing, traditional dress and costumes, and altar building, Día de los Muertos brings unity between the living and returning spirits. “This indigenous holiday from Mexico celebrates the loving connection between the living and our departed loved ones that is so deeply missing in Western culture,” said Aya de Leon, a Puerto Rican novelist and Berkley professor, as reported by San Antonio Express News. For Día de los Muertos, our team at Salud America! is honored to remember the loved ones we’ve lost from COVID-19 and other conditions, and protect the health of our living familia.
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Annually, CDC researchers compile and analyze data to predict the number of deaths that will occur in the coming year. The number of mortalities that go over this initial estimate, or “the difference between the observed numbers of deaths in specific time periods and expected numbers of deaths in the same time periods,” are known as excess deaths. Looking at deaths in 2020 compared with predicted deaths, researchers found that U.S. Latinos suffered double the excess deaths per 100,000 people than their white peers. “There were profound racial/ethnic disparities in excess deaths in the United States in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in rapid increases in racial/ethnic disparities in all-cause mortality between 2019 and 2020,” according to an October 2021 ...
One in six U.S. youth have obesity, but the issue is worse among Latinos and other youth of color, according to a new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). More than one in five Latino (21.4%), Black (23.8%), and American Indian/Alaska Native (28.7%) children ages 10-17 have obesity. The reasons? Structural racism and systemic health inequities. Racist policies and discriminatory practices affect our food system, access to healthcare, affordable housing, and critical family supports like childcare, the RWJF report says. Together, the effects of these policies and practices force families into hard choices on how to spend limited resources, especially during COVID-19. “The state of childhood obesity in America is an urgent call to action for leaders at all ...
Simple logistics—availability, childcare, and time—stop some Latinas and other women of color from volunteering for breast cancer clinical trials, according to a new survey. The survey, led by For The Breast of Us, an online breast cancer survivor community, and Sommer Consulting, found that the anticipated time demands of a clinical trial may appear "too intimidating." Most women of color struggle with multiple demands in their lives. The perceived or real logistics of participating in a clinical trial could make it harder. One respondent said: “You still have to worry about how am I going to run my household, especially as a woman of color, who typically a lot of times are single-family or single-parent households." "The results of this survey demonstrate how ...
Lots of small cities in California have taken two big steps to protect youth from smoking addiction and secondhand smoke —banning flavored tobacco products and smoking inside all apartment homes. Now San Jose will become the state’s largest city to take both steps. The San Jose City Council is expected to formally approve the bans during a vote on Oct. 5, according to The Mercury News. “The tobacco industry has a stronghold on our kiddos — enticing them with flavors and leading them to a life of addiction,” Councilwoman Magdalena Carrasco, a champion of the proposed ban, said Monday. “Banana split, Kool-aid, Hawaiian punch, gummy bears — all of these e-cigarette flavors may taste like candy but it’s poison to our children.”
San Jose’s New Ban on Smoking ...
Workforce inequities are nothing new for people of color, specifically Latinos. Long before COVID-19, many Latinos had unstable jobs with little-to-no benefits and lower wages than their white non-Latino coworkers. The pandemic made things worse. But one thing saved many Latino jobs—a labor union contract, according to a comparison of unionized and non-unionized Latino workers by UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Initiative. Labor unions are organizations of workers that come together to negotiate better working conditions or other benefits as a collective bargaining. “Our analysis suggests that unionization—even within the same industry and occupation—preserved employment and wages for workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for variations in ...
Early education can make a huge impact on the lives of children — especially its effects on economic opportunities, college prep, and finding a good-paying job. Yet it is far too common for Latinos and other disadvantaged students to face barriers for quality K-12 education. That’s why The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit policy organization, recently published five policy recommendations that can make a huge difference in the education of Latino students. “Latino students in particular constitute a significant and growing portion of the U.S. student population yet are often overlooked in education literature because they are not the lowest performing demographic,” the report states. “We considered factors that may’ve influenced student performance, including both ...
