Get kids more access to water with #SaludWater!

Girl at filtered water station

Did you know Latino kids are more dehydrated and drink less water than white kids, heightening risk of fatigue and impacting brain function?

That’s why the #SaludWater health campaign is underway!

#SaludWater—led by the Salud America! national network for healthy change for Latinos—promotes awareness and actions to inspire partners and the public to give Latino children more access to drinking water, rather than sugary drinks.

“Parents, teachers, and leaders have the power to push #SaludWater for Latino and all kids, said Amelie G. Ramirez, Dr.P.H., director of Salud America! and a professor at UT Health San Antonio. “Access to water can have a big impact in improving hydration and increasing health.”

Latino kids consume more sugary drinks than non-Latino kids at all ages, and less water, according to a bilingual package of research from Salud America!.

Being Latino and drinking sugary beverages at least once in the past week were associated with 2.3 times the odds of severe obesity in kindergarten, research shows. Water, on the other hand, can increase hydration, brain function, energy, and physical performance.

The #SaludWater website, salud.to/saludwater, has actions, stats, and solutions on how to make water more accessible to Latino kids in schools and communities.

Actions include:

—Tweet how drinking water helps you live life better.

—Share social media messages about real facts and real people driving innovative solutions to boost water access, such as adding water bottle fountains in schools.

—Sign a letter to urge State PTAs to prioritize efforts to promote access to drinking water in schools, such as water bottle fountains.

—Use our toolkit to add water bottle fountain in schools.

#SaludWater partners include:

UnidosUS (formerly NCLR)

National Hispanic Medical Association

Voices for Healthy Kids

Drink Up Initiative of Partnership for a Healthier America

Center for Science in the Public Interest

UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity

The Food Trust

ChildObesity180

The Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing

Berkeley Media Studies Group

America Walks

Safe Routes to School National Partnership

Trust for America’s Health

SHAPE America

Healthy Eating Research

Gretchen Swanson Center for Human Nutrition

Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES)

Sugar Free Kids Maryland

San Antonio Food Bank

Social & Health Research Center in San Antonio

SA2020

Bexar County Health Collaborative

Dell Children’s Medical Center

Texas Center for the Prevention & Treatment of Childhood Obesity

Dr. Stephen Pont of Austin, Texas

The campaign will run from now through Aug. 18, 2017.

“We hope #SaludWater shows people that Latino kids need access to water throughout their day, and how to help make it happen,” Dr. Ramirez said.

Stay in touch

For current news from the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio, please visit the institute’s blog or follow on Twitter @SaludToday.

Salud America! The RWJF Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children

Salud America! is a university-based nonprofit network launched in 2007 that develops multimedia communications to educate and motivate its national online network—more than 100,000 parents, teachers, academics, healthcare providers, and community leaders—to take action to reduce Latino childhood obesity and build a culture of health. The network was created and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and is directed by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, a health disparities researcher and director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio. Visit Salud America! at www.salud-america.org or follow on social media via its @SaludToday handle on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

About UT Health San Antonio

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, with missions of teaching, research and healing, is one of the country’s leading health sciences universities and is now called UT Health San Antonio™. UT Health’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced more than 33,000 alumni who are advancing their fields throughout the world. With seven campuses in San Antonio and Laredo, UT Health has a FY 2017 revenue operating budget of $806.6 million and is the primary driver of its community’s $37 billion biomedical and health care industry. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.



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