Salud America! Helping reverse the obesity epidemic among Latino children

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 percent of Mexican-American children are obese or overweight, compared with 30.7 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 34.9 percent of African-American children. Unfortunately, there is insufficient data available for other Latino subgroups. Responding to this issue, Salud America! The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Research Network to Prevent Obesity Among Latino Children supports research on environmental and policy solutions to the epidemic of obesity among Latino children. The program, led by health promotion and communication expert Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, works with researchers, health groups, individual advocates, community leaders, and other RWJF national programs to bridge the gap in the amount of research and data available on Latinos, placing special emphasis on interventions that address multiple levels of an ecologic framework. Salud America! has developed a network of more than 1,450 researchers and other stakeholders and partners whose findings will help identify the most promising obesity-prevention strategies specifically tailored for Latino communities. The program conducted a national Delphi survey among 313 researchers, policy-makers, community leaders and other Latino childhood obesity stakeholders to identify and assess the top priorities for research aimed at preventing obesity among Latino children. Using these priorities, RWJF, through Salud America!, funded 20 pilot investigators to conduct research and identify the most promising policy-relevant strategies to reduce and prevent obesity among Latino children. Projects started July 1, 2009.