Online only: Latinos in D.C. face such problems as obesity, gestational diabetes and barriers to care
The state of Latino health in the District of Columbia is poor, although community-based health clinics are effectively providing safety nets in screening the Latino population for HIV/AIDS, breast and cervical cancer and providing other critical health services.
Those are the findings in a new report issued in 2005 by the Latino Health Care Collaborative. The data comes from the first community-based effort to gather and present data on D.C. Latinos’ health status, knowledge and access to care. The report also provides specific recommendations for reducing health disparities between Latinos and whites in D.C.
"This is the first time in the national capital area that Latinos have gathered, interpreted, and reported on Latino health. What makes this a momentous occasion is that we procured the data, and it was not taken from a secondary source," said Eugenio Arene, executive director of the Council of Latino Agencies, which led the report effort. "It is an important step toward improving Latino health in the District of Columbia."
Among the problems requiring immediate attention:
• Almost 42 percent of respondents had no form of health insurance.
• Thirty-two percent of respondents had not seen a doctor in more than two years.
• Sixty-one percent of respondents were overweight or obese.
• Twenty-one percent of female respondents reported being diagnosed with gestational diabetes.
• Three percent of respondents reported being diagnosed with breast cancer.
The report, The State of Latino Health in the District of Columbia, does note the success that community-based health clinics play in the Latino community. Survey results indicate that the clinics "may be filling the gap," especially for Latinos who are uninsured. According to the report, seven of 10 Latinos in the District said they would go to a clinic or health center if they were sick or needed advice about health. Thanks to community-based clinics, the health of D.C. Latinos surveyed surpasses that of both Latinos and whites nationwide in specific areas such as screening for HIV/AIDS and breast and cervical cancer, flu shots among Latino seniors, and knowledge about HIV transmission.
The report recommended future health surveillance of D.C. Latinos be community-based and centered on linguistically and culturally appropriate methodologies. Other recommendations included expanding existing efforts to conduct bilingual outreach to enroll uninsured Latinos in health insurance programs and increasing investments in Latino-serving clinics.
The report was released exactly three years after a landmark report on the state of D.C. Latinos which not only cited major problems with health, but with housing, education and employment as well.
One key player in the effort was Maria Gomez, president and chief executive officer of Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Health, who noted that "the key to improving health care is to get the whole community involved -- families, clinics, academic institutions, the Department of Health, and policy-makers."
Story courtesy Latino Health Care Collaborative, Sept. 29, 2005. This story does not contain original reporting from The Nation’s Health staff.
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