Oral

Today, one-third of U.S. children are overweight or obese, placing them at an increased risk for heart disease, diabetes and other health problems. Latino children, who belong to the largest, youngest and fastest-growing U.S. minority group, have one of the highest rates of obesity. Recent data shows that 38% of Mexican-American children are obese or overweight, versus 30.7% of whites and 34.9% of African-Americans. There is an urgent need for research to identify the most effective policies and programs for reversing Latino childhood obesity. This is the reason behind the creation of Salud America! The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children. The program, led by health promotion expert Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, is a national RWJF program that supports research on environmental and policy solutions to the epidemic of Latino childhood obesity. Since its establishment in 2008, Salud America! has developed a network of more than 1,600 researchers, health groups, individual advocates, community leaders, policy-makers and others who are united in bridging the gap in the amount of research and data available on Latinos and identifying the most promising obesity-prevention strategies specifically tailored for Latino communities. Salud America! sends Latino childhood obesity news, stories, events, resources and funding opportunities to its network through daily blog posts (www.saludtoday.com/blog), monthly E-alerts and quarterly E-newsletters (http://www.salud-america.org/publications.html). Also, in July 2009, fueled by the network’s innovative Delphi survey, which yielded the first-ever National Latino Childhood Obesity Research Priority Agenda, Salud America! and RWJF initiated a national competitive grant process and funded 20 junior- and mid-career scientists from across the U.S. to conduct pilot research projects focusing on policy and environmental solutions to local Latino childhood obesity issues. This session features an introductory overview of Salud America! and the challenges of Latino childhood obesity, followed by presentations from three pilot investigators and a respondent

Session Objectives: 1. Describe/define the multi-faceted challenges of obesity higher incidence of obesity specifically among Latino children 2. Define the first-ever National Latino Childhood Obesity Research Priority Agenda as developed by Salud America! 3. Describe the aims and methods of three current research interventions to reduce Latino childhood obesity through environmental and policy changes