Millions of Latinos and other Americans of color suffer from a lack of reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. For years, experts and advocates have described this problem as “food insecurity.” However, as this conversation takes the forefront after a year of food-insecurity problems highlighted by the coronavirus pandemic, nutrition experts are now saying it is time to address food security in a new light: Through “nutrition security.” “You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘food security’ to describe consistent access to food,” Cara Rosenbloom, a registered dietitian and the president of Words to Eat By, wrote in a recent Washington Post perspective. “But many health professionals and policymakers think it’s an inadequate ...
Despite being severely impacted economically by the COVID-19 pandemic, low-income, immigrant families often avoided federal assistance programs, according to new data from the Urban Institute’s Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey. “Many immigrant families have suffered significant economic hardships and health impacts during the COVID-19 crisis and have faced barriers to participation in safety net programs or other supports,” according to researchers Hamutal Bernstein, Dulce Gonzalez, and Michael Karpman. Unfortunately, barriers like restrictive eligibility rules for immigrants as well as a fear of deportation or barring from legal residency discourage immigrants from seeking help through federal assistance programs, like food and housing aid. However, with President ...
The Latino community has disproportionately felt the burden of COVID-19. COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have been higher for Latinos than other groups. “The pandemic has disproportionately hit Latinos throughout the country, who are already at a disadvantage as they are likely to work in front-line jobs and have the highest uninsured rates,” writes Cynthia Silva, according to NBC News. As more Latinos have been hospitalized, healthcare providers have noticed the need for Latino nurses who can provide culturally competent, bilingual services. Unfortunately, less than 6% of nurses are Latino, mostly due to systemic barriers that prevent Latino students from pursuing a career in nursing. Let’s explore the importance of culturally competent healthcare and ...
Program leaders have selected 26 aspiring Latino researchers from across the nation to join the 2021 cohort of Éxito! Latino Cancer Research Leadership Training at UT Health San Antonio. Each year, Éxito! recruits U.S. master’s level students and professionals to participate in a five-day, culturally tailored Éxito! summer institute to promote pursuit of a doctoral degree and cancer research. The 26 new participants were selected from a deep pool of applicants. Each participant now will join the Éxito! summer institute on June 7-11, 2021 in San Antonio. They will interact with Latino researchers and doctoral experts to learn about Latino cancer, succeeding in a doctoral program, and the diversity of research careers.
Meet the 2021 Éxito! Ccohort Leslie Aragon, ...
Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in Latinas. In fact, while breast cancer death rates have declined recently, the rate of decline for Latinas is lower (1.1% per year) than their white peers (1.8% per year). “Latinas are less likely to be screened for breast cancer, so they are more likely to be diagnosed at later disease stages,” said Dr. Amelie Ramirez, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR) and the Salud America! program at UT Health San Antonio. “This makes it critical to improve breast cancer screening, prevention, and support for Latinas.”
What Is Breast Cancer?
Breast cancer is cancer that forms in the cells of the breasts. After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women in the United States. ...
U.S. Latinos are 1.5 times more likely than whites to develop Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, the number of Latinos with Alzheimer’s and dementia could increase six-fold, from 200,000 today to 1.3 million by 2050, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. We need to raise awareness. We also need advocacy for solutions. Fortunately, our Salud America! #SaludTues Tweetchats, a discussion series on Twitter about Latino health, helped raise awareness of and advocacy action around Alzheimer's and its rise among Latinos, according to our new study in the Journal of Health Communication. The study found that #SaludTues Tweetchats provided a unique forum for sharing facts, increasing exposure, and discussing solutions to Alzheimer's among Latinos. "The study proves that ...
People who live in multifamily housing share air with their neighbors ─ including secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke contains over 70 cancer-causing chemicals, and has killed over 2.5 million people. The dangers are especially serious in multifamily housing, where secondhand smoke can travel through doorways, halls, windows, ventilation systems, electrical outlets, and gaps around fixtures. Download the Salud America! Action Pack “Help Your City Adopt Smoke-Free Multifamily Housing!” The action pack will help you engage local leaders in exploring a smoke-free multifamily housing policy for common areas and individual units. "Experts say a smoke-free multifamily housing policy can protect the health of tenants and staff of apartments from secondhand smoke, as well as ...
More than 25,000 public comments were submitted to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on proposed changes to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Our team at Salud America! developed three model comments asking FHWA to adopt a public health and Safe System Approach to reframe and rewrite the 700-page MUTCD, one of transportation engineering’s “bibles” that guides road creation. More than 2,100 people visited our model comments over 30 days and nearly 450 people submitted our model comments. “This enormous volume of comments (a more than ten-fold increase over the last time the MUTCD was updated in 2009) demonstrates the degree to which Americans want change,” according to a post from the National Association of City Transportation Officials ...
Growing up in a working-class, union family, Dominic Aliano saw firsthand how local governance could help people in his hometown. Aliano now serves as the Vice Mayor of that city, Concord, Calif (29.9% Latino). He has led numerous initiatives to improve life in Concord ─ including the city’s smoke-free multifamily housing ordinance, which prohibits smoking inside units of all apartments. Smoke-free multifamily housing helps protect families who face toxic secondhand smoke exposure and other systemic inequities where they live, according to Aliano. “This legislation and ones like it are really important for people, especially those in the communities that I represent, who are mostly renters in multi-family housing complexes,” he said. “Sometimes landlords take ...
