Salud America! this month launched the Salud Report Card, a free online tool where people can select their own county and get customized data on food access, physical activity, and equity issues compared to the state and nation.
The new Salud Report Card also offers policy solutions, case studies, and share-ability to inspire people to start and support healthy changes in their communities.
The tool, which helps identify local health issues and strategize solutions, is available online at the website of Salud America!, a national Latino childhood obesity prevention network led by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez of the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).
Generate your own free customized Salud Report Card!
“We see this tool as a great way for activists, parents, educators, and healthcare professionals to take action by engaging local leaders in conversations that will create healthier communities for Latino kids and the generations to come,” said Dr. Ramirez, professor and chair ad interim of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the Health Science Center.
“The tool also compares several datasets between Latinos and non-Latinos to identify health equity issues, and includes a map of where populations are particularly vulnerable to health issues.”
Salud America!, which was established in 2007, has recruited a national online network of 50,000 parents, school personnel, health professionals, and community leaders who support its mission: “End Latino childhood obesity by communicating good health and driving people to start and assist healthy changes in their schools and communities.”
The network develops online content and resources, educational case studies, action campaigns, data tools, social media events, and marketing geared to healthy change for Latino children.
More than 38 percent of Latino children ages 2-19 are overweight or obese, compared to 28.5 percent of White youth and 35.2 percent of Black youth. Latino children also face barriers in access to healthy foods and drinks and physical activity, especially among those ages 0-5.
“We are excited to continue to develop new tools and new content that can help Latino and all children reach a healthy weight,” Dr. Ramirez said.
Visit Salud America! on the web (http://salud.to/saludamerica) or social media (@SaludToday).
Salud America! The RWJF Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children
Salud America! is a nonprofit network launched in 2007 that develops multimedia communications to educate and motivate its national online network—more than 50,000 kids, 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 The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. Visit Salud America! at http://www.communitycommons.org/groups/salud-america/. Follow Salud America! on social media via its @SaludToday handle on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and WordPress.
About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)
For more than 40 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve health and health care. We are striving to build a national Culture of Health that will enable all to live longer, healthier lives now and for generations to come. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter or on Facebook.
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. Its schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have more than 33,000 alumni who are advancing their fields throughout the world. With four campuses in San Antonio and Laredo, the university has a FY 16 revenue operating budget of $801.8 million and is the primary driver of its community’s $30.6 billion biomedical and health care industry. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.