American Journal of Public Health, Vol 90, Issue 12 1827-1833, Copyright © 2000 by American Public Health Association

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Latino child health: need for inclusion in the US national discourse

RE Zambrana and LA Logie
Department of Women's Studies, University of Maryland, College Park 20742, USA. rz23@umail.umd.edu

The "rediscovery" of poverty, as echoed in concepts of social inequality, has contributed to the goal of eliminating racial/ethnic and social class disparities in the United States. This commentary focuses on what we know about the pressing health care needs and issues relevant to Latino children and families and how extant knowledge can be linked to priority policy recommendations to ensure the inclusion of Latino health issues in the national discourse. A systematic review of the literature on Latino children and of expert opinion revealed 4 evidence-based themes focused on poverty: economic factors, family and community resources, health system factors, and pitfalls in Latino subgroup data collection. Consensus was found on 4 priority policy recommendations: (1) reduce poverty and increase access to health care coverage, (2) increase funding in targeted primary and preventive health care services, (3) provide funds needed to fully implement relevant health legislation, and (4) improve measurement and quality of data collection. If these recommendations are not instituted, the goals of Healthy People 2010 will not be achieved for the Latino population.

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