Health messaging is a critical way to empower health equity. But without relevant, culturally competent health messages, Latinos will continue to face vast health disparities in diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers, especially in the face of conflicting unhealthy marketing by the food and beverage industry. Let’s use #SaludTues on April 12, 2016, during National Minority Health Month, to tweet about how healthcare professionals, public health professionals, city leaders, businesses, schools, and you can alter language and images in their health messaging to promote health for Latinos. WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “How to Alter Health Messaging to Promote Prevention for Latinos”
TIME/DATE: 1-2 p.m. EST Tuesday, April 12, 2016
WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag ...
What happens when people get "priced out" of the homes they've lived in for decades? People like Luis Granados step up. Granados, Christopher Gil, and other leaders of the nonprofit Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) didn't stand by when a tech boom in San Francisco’s Mission District brought in higher-priced homes and threatened to push out lower-income families. They embarked on a mission to create 100% affordable housing in the area.
The rising housing costs in San Francisco
Since 1973, the Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) offers free financial services to lower-income families in San Francisco’s Mission District, a 30% Latino neighborhood where most rent their homes, said Christopher Gil, the group’s senior content marketing manager. The ...
Studies have shown that mascots, cartoons, and familiar faces often influence children's choices on food and unfortunately usually unhealthy foods. Marketing companies have targeted kids in various ways over the years, bringing in familiar cartoon characters or brand mascots into the commercials of high fat and high sugar food products, influencing food choices. Many companies have moved away from unhealthy food marketing to children and have joined the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), which commits companies to only market healthy products to children younger than 12. However, recent research from Healthy Eating Research shows that there are still opportunities for food and beverage companies to ensure healthier foods and beverages are the only ...
Salud America!, a national childhood obesity prevention and communication program, has received a one-year, $1.3 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to develop new, tailored educational content that helps people to work toward healthy changes for children and families. Established in 2007, Salud America!, has recruited a national online network of 50,000 parents, school personnel, health professionals, and community leaders who support its mission. Childhood obesity continues to rise in America. The new funding will allow Salud America! to expand its network and engage members with enhanced educational content, including multimedia role model stories, social media events (like the #SaludTues weekly tweetchat), online resources, digital action campaigns, and ...
Two architecture and planning graduate students from the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) recognized good fruit from fruit trees were being left to rot in urban areas of San Antonio, Texas, where many families live in need of fresh foods. Working together for a class project, the friends created a blossoming non-profit to make sure families in need can access a variety of fresh fruit.
A Local Healthy Food Problem
Awareness/Learn: In summer 2013, UTSA grad student Melissa Federspill started a class focused on health planning, called “Health in the Built Environment.” Students in the class were advised to visualize solutions to inner-city health problems. The class analyzed a neighborhood close to campus, the Avenue to Guadalupe neighborhood in the West Side of San ...
This is part of our Latina Mom and Baby Health: A Research Review »
Benefits of breastfeeding
The benefits of breastfeeding for both mother and baby are well established in the literature, and yet breastfeeding rates in the United States remain below desired levels.38,39 According to recommendations from The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), mothers should exclusively breastfeed their infants for at least the first 6 months of life, with continuation for 1 year or longer. In addition, breastfeeding infants should not receive supplemental formula unless advised by a health care professional.39,40 As part of the Healthy People 2020 initiative, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services outlined several ...
One of four U.S. kids, including Latino kids, is already overweight or obese by age 2-5. How can we promote a healthy weight by kindergarten? Mothers’ physical activity and healthy eating habits before and during pregnancy play a big role. Breastfeeding also has many positive effects on children. Interventions or policies aimed at improving breastfeeding rates, while reducing formula marketing, among Latino and all mothers may be critical to promoting healthy weight goals. Healthy eating and physical activity habits established during early childhood care settings also is a stepping stone toward lifelong health. See the Full Research Review with references (PDF)
Read the Issue Brief in English (PDF)
Read the Issue Brief in Spanish (PDF)
Contents
Introduction & ...
Penny Parham is helping students in Miami-Dade County make healthier food choices more easily thanks to highlighted, veggie-promoting "Lean & Green" school lunch food menus. By providing more vegetarian options, officials with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools hope to increase students’ consumption of fruits and vegetables and make healthy food the easy choice. How did they make it happen?
Lean & Green
Penny Parham, the administrative director at Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida, realized the school district’s initiative of “Meatless Mondays” were popular for students. However, these vegetarian meal options were only available to students on Mondays. The Miami-Dade school district is the fourth largest in the nation, and having healthy eating ...
Many kids and families have limited spaces to be physically active. What are the best ways to improve access to “active spaces” like gyms, athletic fields, parks, and playgrounds for all families, including Latinos? Many schools do not provide public access to physical activity facilities. Shared use agreements set up rules for public use of schoolyards after class. Repairing sidewalks, installing street lights, and improving parks can stimulate more physical activity. Creating safer streets can people to walk or cycle to schools, parks, and other family destinations. Also, using marketing and technology to change kids’ physical activity patterns. See the Full Research Review with references (PDF)
Read the Issue Brief in English (PDF)
Read the Issue Brief in Spanish ...
