All-day event seeks ways to improve health of Latino children

Improving the health status of Latino children in the United States isn't a simple matter. It involves issues of the educational system, health insurance coverage, and language and culture communication, among many other needs.

About 70 people gathered at the Campus Inn April 14 for a full day of conversations about Latino children's health policy. They included researchers, health care professionals, students, and government employees and officials, all looking for ways to untangle the complex issues.

Antonia Villarruel, associate professor of nursing and chair of the program's planning committee, moderated a panel discussion at the end of the day, summarizing concerns that had come up during the day's presentations.

Among the needs she listed were:

• Better data at the state and national level on Latino children's health

• Recognition of the link between quality education and health

• Access to health care, particularly difficult for undocumented immigrants

• Treatment of mental health in conjunction with physical health

• Language skills and cultural understanding among health care providers

• Input from Latino community members about what they want and need most.

The event was hosted by the Susan B. Meister Child Health Policy Initiative, a School of Nursing program aimed at encouraging U-M faculty and students to better understand child health policy issues, and the MESA Center for Health Disparities, a collaborative effort of the U-M School of Nursing and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Nursing, supported by a five-year grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research.

Elva Revilla, Gov. Jennifer Granholm's deputy for administration, said one of the most important challenges for people concerned about Latino health is to build better communication, noting that it's too easy for people to work on similar programs and duplicate efforts or not take advantage of existing opportunities. Toward that end, she invited the group to Lansing to meet again to talk about improving communication and building links.

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