CHANNEL: Health Issues

NEWS BRIEF: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a new Spanish-language Web site, www.cdc.gov/spanish, that provides information on health issues of relevance to Latinos.

JudyAnn Bigby, MD, secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) for Massachusetts, wants healthcare institutions held accountable for their quality of care to patients of color.

She spoke to NEWz about this and other issues, following the Nov. 28 release of the state report, "Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities by EOHHS Regions in Massachusetts."

BOSTON, Dec. 4, 2007—Latinos and African Americans each comprise only 6% of the population of Massachusetts, but they make up more than 50% of the state's residents who have HIV/AIDS. So says a report released yesterday by the Mass. Department of Public Health (DPH), called "An Added Burden: The Impact of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic on Communities of Color in Massachusetts," according to DPH press release.

Storefronts in Dorchester and Roxbury are plastered with youth-targeted cigarette ads. Boston officials and teen groups want to restrict the ads.

The Haitian Multi-Service Center in Dorchester recently held a forum on domestic violence, at which speakers such as Marlene Bastien, executive director of Haitian Women of Miami, discussed the harsh realities of family abuse.

African American and Latino high school students voiced their opinions about violence in their lives, snitching to cops, and education, at a meeting convened this month by the Boston Public Health Commission.

Since 1991, the Justice Resource Institute's Health division has served the needs of Bostonians with AIDS. Today, JRI Health provides a drop-in center for non-heterosexual youth, plus technical assistance and training for groups that help AIDS patients.

A new report of Boston-based Catalyst Institute finds that great racial disparities exist in the oral health of children in Massachusetts.

Alex White, DDS, DrPH, Catalyst's director of analytics, talked to NEWz about the report and the necessity of preventing dental disease – starting with Mom – before the baby is born.

"Waiting until age 4 or 5 to see a dentist is...too late," he said.

Haitians are afflicted disproportionately by diabetes, but a new initiative of the Center for Community Health, Education and Research in Boston seeks to change that, says the Boston Haitian Reporter.

If you didn't know English, would you be able to understand your written drug labels at the pharmacy? Or have someone interpret them for you and answer your questions?

Probably not, according to a recent study in Pediatrics. But you and your doctor can take action. Plus, the law - Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - is on your side.