Latino Americans are the second-largest minority group in the United States. They include Americans
who descended from Spain, Portugal, or the Spanish or Portuguese speaking countries of Latin America. In
2015, life expectancy at birth for Latinos was 81.9 years, with 84.1 years for women and 79.6 years for men.
Currently, Latinos' health status is worrying and leads to high deaths caused by heart diseases and cancer. Their
health is shaped by cultural barriers, lack of access to preventive care, and lack of health insurance. Latinos are
from different races and ethnicities, which contributes to their health and life span in unusual ways. For
instance, there is inpatient mortality in Blacks Latinos as compared to Whites Latinos. Black Latinos tend to
experience higher-level social stressors than white Latinos, thus affecting their overall health. Studies have
shown that Latinos born in other countries have higher cancer-related complications than Latinos born in
America. Further, non-Latino whites’ life expectancies are projected as 79.8 years, 82.0 years for women, and
77.5 years for men.
Lack of clean water, living in an unconducive environment, occupation, and poverty have affected
Latinos' health status in several ways.91% of Latinos live in metropolitan areas. The remaining 28,3% live near
major highways with heavy traffic. Smoke emitted by the vehicles results in acute and chronic respiratory
illnesses, cardiovascular diseases, and obstetrical complications, leading to difficulties in pregnancies. Getting
clean water is an issue since most of it has elevated arsenic levels and nitrates, exposing Latinos to health risks.
Most Latinos major in unskilled jobs, for example, construction, domestic maintenance and repair services, and
personal household services. Due to their employment nature, Latinos tend to be exposed to occupational
hazards, thus leading to high mortality rates. Lastly, poverty levels among the Latinos are high, and they lack
the money to take up health insurance, which is a key determinant of access to quality health services in
America. When it comes to the larger American groups, it is not the case since they live in conducive
environments, have quality water, and partake in skilled jobs.
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Latinos' health status compares to that of the national average in several ways. Both chronic diseases
such as heart disease and cancer are the leading causes of death. Chronic diseases are common among the aged
population. Both Latinos and the national average, infectious diseases and acute conditions are the major causes
of most premature deaths. Major causes of chronic diseases are poor nutrition and poor hygiene. Obesity is a
problem that affects both Latinos and the national average, and it affects both adults and adolescents. Obesity is
caused by the consumption of high-calorie foods, which are cheap and readily available. Consumption of
tobacco in both is high, thus explaining the increased cases of cancer and heart diseases. Mental problems are an
issue in both Latinos and the national average, and numbers are slowly rising.
Latinos are affected by several health disparities. Disparities are defined as differences in incidence,
prevalence, and mortality of a disease and the related adverse health conditions among a specific group.
Obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and liver diseases are health disparities that affect most
Latinos in America., Obesity has prevailed among Latinos, and 42.5% of adults are considered obese. They
have the highest rate of obesity among American youths. Majorly, food and beverage companies that promote
low nutrient consumption, calorie-dense foods, and beverages among children increased obesity levels. High-
calorie deficit foods not only cause obesity; they are also the major cause of diabetes among Latinos. Tobacco
consumption by Latinos is high and leading to cardiovascular disease and hypertension. Lastly, prostate cancer
is high among male Latinos, and liver diseases also increase cancer. Lack of affordable, nutritious food is a
severe problem in the Latino community, and it is tightly linked to poverty. Healthy foods are expensive to buy.
Thus, Latinos are forced to buy fast foods that are cheap and readily available.
Health promotion programs for Latinos have played a key role in increasing their awareness and early
detection of prevalent diseases. Nutrition being a major problem in Latinos, plans have been developed that
educate them on the importance of incorporating a healthy diet. Mexican government launched an initiative that
helped reduce the barriers to health services, thus improving them. In addition to this, mobile health units have
been set up to provide preventive health screenings, referrals to clinics, follow-up on referrals, and
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immunizations administration. Latinos can now access primary and preventive health services, and an increase
in public insurance coverage has been experienced. Latino community is connected to medical homes, and a
culture of self-care has been promoted among them. Latinos can receive counseling and guidance services about
disease prevention and health promotion. These measures have had positive effects among the Latinos since
most of them can afford health insurance.
Several approaches have been taken to develop a care plan for Latinos effectively. For instance, health
providers are educating Latinos on self-management behaviors that help reduce diabetes. Self-management
behaviors include blood glucose monitoring, healthy eating, exercise, medication adherence, and clinical
control. Another approach used is live interventions that help improve Latinos' outcomes with type 2 diabetes.
Live interventions have been successful, and improvements in A1C, nutrition, physical activity, and medication
adherence have been experienced. Self-management behaviors and live interventions have reduced diabetes
levels among Latinos.
While developing a care plan for Latinos several, cultural practices and beliefs should be put into
consideration. Professional health care providers must take into consideration the huge subcultural variations in
the Latino population. Cultural regions have sub-areas that are diverse and have their linguistics, dialectic
variations, differences in beliefs. Lifestyles and customs When designing medical services that are to be
delivered to Latino patients, differences in their cultures must be considered. Family is important to Latinos. Its
resilience and cohesiveness are distinguishing features attributed to them. For instance, while treating Latino
families, multigenerational families are involved at every stage in the health care process. Often, they go with
each other for doctors’ appointments signifying the tight bond between them. Cultural competency in the clinic
is a model that would best support culturally competent health promotion among Latinos. The choice is ideal
since it supplies an opportunity to assess and address challenging health problems among Latinos within the
context of both science and culture. Even with the availability of modern medicines and health care, the
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phenomenon of folk healing is not diminishing. Health professionals must use their ability and incorporate both
traditional and contemporary medicine.
Latinos living in America are average 15 years younger and are four times more likely not to have
finished high school. Lack of education means that Latinos will lack the necessary skills to join the Americans'
job market. Lack of jobs leads to overall poverty levels, which affects their economic status. Due to lack of
money, most Latinos cannot buy health insurance influencing the quality of health services they can receive.
Socioeconomic factors are another barrier to accessing health services. Socioeconomic factors lead to low
educational accomplishment, and Latinos work in low paying jobs, which is related to underemployment.
Health services among Latinos are affected by the language barrier. Health practitioners and Latinos cannot
communicate effectively due to the language barrier, and they are forced to look for interpreters. Sociopolitical
factors have also had an effect on the health status of Latinos in America. Day in day out, Latinos are fighting to
remove all drugs from their drugs. Drugs bring about interpersonal violence, which affects Latinos' peace and
stability. Most Americans may believe that every Latino uses drugs, thus having a major effect on the type of
health services they will receive.
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References
Adolfo G. Cuevas, Beverly Araujo Dawson, &David R. Williams. Race and Skin Color in Latino Health: An
Analytic Review, November 10, 2016.
Addie L. Fortmann, Athena Philis –Tsimikas, Kimberly L. Savin, Linda C. Gallo, &Taylor L. Clark. Diabetes
Interventions in the US Hispanic Population, November 15, 2019.
Together for Health, an initiative to Access Health Services for the Hispanic/Mexican Population Living in the
United States. Front, Public Health,24 September 2019.
Velasco-Mondragon, E. Jimenez, A. Palladino Davis &, A. G. Hispanic health in USA: a scoping review of the
literature. Public Health Rev 37,31 (2016).