Crisis in Hispanic Health: An Agenda for Action.

Overview & Synopsis

This report examines focus-group recommendations addressing the issues in California's Hispanic health education. It reveals a perceived need to increase the political clout and organization of Hispanics, expand public education campaigns, and increase the access of Hispanics to affordable health care through legislative reform. In addition, the report suggests that policymakers need to give the health needs of all youth equal, if not greater, priority than other age groups and to develop youth-specific reform legislation and age-appropriate policies. The following recommendations are examined: (1) health, education, and social services need to be integrated--schools cannot do it alone; (2) schools need to educate and encourage parents to be involved in their children's preventive and regular medical care; (3) the role and skills of teachers in terms of health education need to be clarified and nurtured; (4) the diversity of ethnicity and acculturation among Hispanic subgroups must be considered in all health education efforts; and (5) information on Hispanic health and Hispanic health education needs to be generated and disseminated, especially to policymakers. (GLR)