http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_4025261

Article Last Updated: 07/07/2006 04:30:51 PM MDT

Curb dangerous Latino youth risks with better policy, health care
By Glenn Flores

Latino youth are at risk, and we must do something about this.

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows disturbing trends for Latino youth in America.

On June 8, the agency's "2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey" revealed that, compared with white youth and black youth, young Latinos are significantly more likely to use drugs. For example, one in eight Latino youth reports having used cocaine at least once. For ecstasy, it's one in 10; methamphetamine, one in 11; and heroin, one in 28, according to the survey.

Latino youth are most likely to have not used a condom during their last sexual intercourse, with 42 percent reporting not using one. This is particularly concerning, since not using condoms greatly increases the risks of teen pregnancy, as well as the risks of contracting HIV/AIDS and other serious sexually transmitted diseases.

In terms of physical health, Latino youth have the highest rate of being overweight, at 17 percent, versus 12 percent for non-Latino white youth.

Mental health is not much better. Latino youth are most likely to report feeling sad or hopeless - at 36 percent overall, and 47 percent among Latino girls. Latino teens have the highest rates of seriously considering attempting suicide - 18 percent overall, and an alarming in one in four girls. Overall, 11 percent of Latino youth have actually attempted suicide, including 15 percent of young Latinas.

Data from other recent studies indicate that the health-care system is part of the problem. Latinos are the most uninsured racial/ethnic group, with 21 percent uninsured, versus 8 percent of whites and 13 percent of blacks. One in three Latino children has no regular source of medical care, and 33 percent experience problems getting specialty care.

Language problems are the single greatest barrier to health care for Latino children, according to a survey of mothers that was published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. And one in six Latino children was not brought in for needed medical care due to language and cultural issues.

We can't let this go on any longer.

First, we need to make sure that our schools are doing all they can to address the problem. The CDC study revealed that 62 percent of Latino youth have no physical education class in school. Public schools must provide regular physical education. And they need to provide healthier school lunches, eliminate soda vending machines and make health education classes mandatory.

And schools can do more, even after the last bell rings. We need affordable and culturally accessible after-school programs that sponsor healthy activities, such as organized sports, dance, the arts and job training.

Second, as a society, we should provide every American child with health insurance and dental insurance. Right now, 8.3 million kids in America have no health insurance, and Latino children are at greatest risk.

Third, states should provide interpreters for Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)-covered patients who are not yet proficient in English. A language barrier should not be a barrier to health care.

And finally, families themselves can improve their children's health simply by eating dinner together on a regular basis. Compared with children who have dinner with their family zero to two times weekly, children who have dinner with their family five to seven times per week have half the risk for substance abuse and high stress, are significantly less likely to have tried marijuana, alcoholic beverages and cigarettes, are twice as likely to receive A's in school and are more likely to eat five daily servings of fruits and vegetables and consume less soda, fried food and fat, according to a 2005nationwide survey by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

Eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in the well-being of our youth should be an urgent national priority. It's both the right thing to do and the smart thing to do for the future health and productivity of our nation.

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Dr. Glenn Flores is director of the Center for the Advancement of Underserved Children and a professor of pediatrics, epidemiology and health policy. He works at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, in Milwaukee.