by Virginia Torres

Dr. William Vega

Twenty-seven percent of Hispanic adults living in the United States have no health care providers and 83 percent of them obtain answers to medical questions from the media, according to a report released Aug.12 by the Pew Hispanic Center and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The study indicates that although Hispanics are a young and healthy population, they are more susceptible to serious health conditions like obesity and diabetes.

During an Aug. 13 briefing on the 78-page report at the National Press Club, William Vega, professor of medicine at UCLA Medical School, said that cultural and adaptation challenges are among the main reasons Hispanics lack health care providers.

“The study really points out where the Jagged edges are,” Vega said. “Three-fourths of the Latino population is composed of immigrants and the children of immigrants. They need health care access regularly. They Jagged edges are,” Vega said. “Three-fourths of the Latino population is composed of immigrants and the children of immigrants. They need health care access regularly. They need people they can count on.”

Groups less likely to have health care providers are men, young adults, the less educated and those who do not have health insurance.

Luncheon speaker Elena Rios, president and CEO of the National Hispanic Medical Association, suggested several strategies to improve health care access, including changing the media’s approach so that it focuses on a younger audience (30 years old or less). She also suggested hiring Latino staff who have connections to the community, making health insurance more universal and affordable, and to start educating the Hispanic community at a younger age.

Elena Ríos

“We have to transform the way we think in terms of health,” Rios said. Ríos commented that while there has been greater support in Congress for several bills that have been introduced, problems remain in gaining more backing from the leadership in the Senate.

As far as the way Senators Obama and McCain are dealing with the health care problem, Rios said “McCain is a little less friendly toward the low-income population, while Obama does have specifics, especially in prevention, obesity and diabetes.”

For further information, visit http://:pewhispanic.or9/reports/report.php?ReportlD=91.

In other news:

IMMIGRATION: 25 bills and 33 Amendments, but once again, THE BIG ONE got away

by Alonso Yáñez

Although the second session of the 110th U.S. Congress has adjourned until September for its summer vacation, many topics important to the Latino community have still not been resolved.

Among the most prominent unaddressed issues by Congress during this session are a comprehensive immigration reform bill, the DREAM Act and stabilizing the agricultural workforce. Before the Senate stopped debating a comprehensive immigration bill, there were 33 amendments to its first version (SB1348), and six to the last one (SB1 639).

What happened:

Comprehensive immigration refor­m: Weeks of negotiations between various senators and the White House produced the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act (SB1348), which provides more resources for border, interior and worksite enforcement and establishes a temporary worker program. After many amendments, the bill was re-introduced June 18 as SB. 1639 but was filibustered by Jim DeMint (R-SC), Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and David Vitter (R-LA). There was a vote to end the filibuster on June 28, but the motion to invoke cloture failed by a vote of 48 to 53, and the Senate moved on to other business.

DREAM ACT: The Development, Relief and Education for Minors Act (SB. 774), which provided in-state tuition to resident undocumented graduates of the state’s public schools, was introduced March 6,2007.After the bill was blocked twice by Republicans, the Senate considered the DREAM Act on Oct.24 (re-introduced as SB.2205), but was filibustered by Republicans. A procedural vote failed to gain support of 60 Senators to stop the filibuster and the Senate moved on to other business.

Stabilizing agricultural workforce: Since more than 50°/O of the agricultural workforce in the nation is undocumented, addressing immigration in this sector is cruciak The Agricultural Job Opportunity Benefits and Security Act (AgJOBS) or SB. 340, which put undocumented immigrant farm workers on a path to legalization, was introduced by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Larry Craig (R-Idaho). The bill was included in the comprehensive immigration reform bill that was filibustered in the Senate in June 2007. Hispanic Link.

by Nicole Joy

Border governors sign green agreement with Schwarzenegger From left to right: The Mexican governors of Coahuila Humberto Moreira Valdés, of Chihuahua José Reyes Baeza Terrazas, of Sonora Eduardo Bours Castelo, of Tamaulipas Eugenio Hernández Flores, and of (U.S.) California Arnold Schwarzenegger signing a document to fight climate change and increase green investment through public private partnerships at XXVII Border Governors Conference. (photo by Duncan Mcintosh)

Coinciding with updated data revealing that Hispanics comprise 22 percent of new HIVAIDS diagnoses in the United States, major global and national sessions are addressing the statistics with new concern.

The figures, released by the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control, fed discussions this month at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, which drew 22,000 participants.

Multiple organizations representing U.S. Hispanics joined in presentations on issues impacting the community as they strategized on how to fight AIDS effectively across all borders.

A major U.S. conference on AIDS will follow Sept. 18-21 in Miami Beach, hosted by the National Minority AIDS Council.

The Mexico City sessions, which concluded Aug. 8, ranged from satellite meetings and special youth programs to visual arts exhibitions. A series of presentations covered social and economic factors prevalent in the Latino community.

Dennis deLeón, head of the New York-based Latino Commission on AIDS, related to Weekly Report the many challenges facing those working to confront the AIDS epidemic.

“We hope to share what is happening in other countries through more press coverage—and to see how those countries are coping with care needs,” he said.

DeLeón singled out stigma as a main challenge the Latino population faces. “This stigmatizing process can cut persons with AIDS off from their families’” he said.

“It causes sexually active Hispanics not to get tested for HIV or to delay taking medications until they are presented with an AIDS diagnosis.”

A 24-minute video presentation produced by the Bay Area National Latino AIDS Awareness Day(BANLMD), “A Todos Nos Afecta’” encouraged discussions about HIV/AIDS related stigma and risk behaviors.

It featured interviews with infected individuals in conjunction with telenovela-style dramatizations about Latino immigrant populations in California.

In addition’ the National Latino AIDS Committee of Northern Virginia displayed an exhibit titled “Portraits of Latinos fi ghting against AIDS in the Washington’ D.C. metropolitan area.”

In other health related news:

As Hispanics grow older, Alzheimer’s poses ­bigger threat to community

by Virginia Torres

Hispanics with mild to moderate Alzbeimer’s disease experienced major progress in cognition after 12 weeks of treatment with Aricept (donepezil HCI tablets), according to a study released July 30 at the 2008 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.

Approximately 200,000 Hispanics living in the United States today have AD, and by the year 2050 an estimated 1.3 million will have the disease, announced the National Institute on Aging.

Óscar López, professor of neurology at the University of Pittsburgh, is one of the lead investigators in the study, which involved 106 Hispanic men and women at least 50 years old. L6pez has conducted several studies in the clinical diagnosis of AD and vascular dementia.

“This news should serve as a call to action for Hispanic families to watch for early signs of AD among their loved ones and speak with a doctor as soon as possible if symptoms are suspected,” he said.

The research indicates that symptoms of AD in Hispanics show seven years before non-Hispanics, and approximately 40 percent of the cases are undiagnosed and untreated. It adds that: Latinos usually wait three years after having the fi rst symptoms to see a doctor due to language and cultural barriers.

AD is increasing among Latinos because of the growing elderly population, genetics and higher rates in diabetes and hypertension, the study concludes. Hispanic Link.­

by the El Reportero’s news services

The expectations surrounding Lugo’s new leftwing government are immense: he is the first president in 61 years not to come from the rightwing Partido Colorado (ANR).

However, the difficulties facing Lugo are equally sizeable. The new president has had to cobble together a congressional alliance comprising former opponents, including a faction of the ANR loyal to his widely reviled predecessor, Nicanor Duarte.

The key to Lugo’s presidency will be whether his legislative supporters back the radical proposals Lugo has promised to reduce poverty and to end corruption.

Morales wins recall vote in Bolivia, but deadlock continues with prefects

Hopes that the 10 August recall vote would bring an end to the political crisis afflicting Bolivia soon evaporated after both President Evo Morales and his key opponents were overwhelmingly ratified in power according to pre liminary results.

Nevertheless, with more than two thirds of the vote, two key opponents ejected and an increase in support in eight of the country’s nine regions, Morales undoubtedly emerges the stronger and in a prime position to begin the inevitable negotiation process.

ALBA nations expand cooperation

MANAGUA, Aug 11- Venezuelan ambassador to Managua Sergio Rodriguez told Prensa Latina the construction of an oil refi nery in Nicaragua is on schedule.

According to the diplomat, a wide cooperation program is being developed within the framework of Petrocaribe. The refi nery project is on schedule, Rodriguez stated.

As part of the ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas) cooperation program, the fi rst shipment of Nicaraguan heifers was sent to Venezuela. Another shipment is due within the next few day.

Nicaragua is also selling beef to Venezuela’s local state markets known as Mercal. Milk and chicken will soon add to Nicaragua’s exports, he said.

Some 1,600 patients have flown to Venezuela to undergo eye surgery and there are many other health and cooperation projects being developed.

Rodriguez said rightwing mass media is objecting the ALBA integration process in an attempt to discredit it. Most of such media is acting as a lackey of the US Empire, he stated.

Lula & Chávez lead new spike of top-level regional alliance building

In one of the busiest months ever for Latin American presidential diplomacy, Brazil’s Lula da Silva has managed to persuade Colombia’s Álvaro Uribe to join the proposed South American defence council, while Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez was able to boast of having attracted two new recruits to his camp: Costa Rica into Petrocaribe, Honduras (possibly) into Alba.

At the same time, Uribe and Chávez have again buried the hatchet, and Lula and Chávez took the opportunity to act jointly in shoring up Bolivia’s Evo Morales in the face of his serious domestic challenges.

New call to review NAFTA in Mexico

MEXICO, Aug 10- Mexican farmer organizations reiterated today their call to review the agricultural chapter of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), considered harmful to food sovereignty.

The National Union of Regional Autonomous Farmer Organizations insisted in renegotiating NAFTA in order to protect Mexican agriculture and re-orientate priorities to domestic production instead of imports.

According to the rural movement, products like corn, sugar, beans, wheat, rice, sorghum, coffee, eggs, milk, beef, poultry and fi sh should be declared strategic to national diet and thus, protected.

The previous week, the Confederación Nacional Campesina of Mexico favored a deep change and review of policies applied in the agricultural sector, above all due to the effects of links with the United States.

Cruz López, leader of that group, denounced that transnational companies are to blame for rules benefi ting US farmers and harmful to Mexican producers. U.S. company Farm Hill, exemplified the guild leader, has hit hardest Mexican farmers, who receive salaries that barely allow them to survive in a situation marked by an unprecedented increase in prices of the family basket. (Latin News and Prensa Latina contributed to this report.)