Despite efforts to address health care disparities in recent years, Hispanic and Latino Americans continue to face uphill battles. Last month, a study of Latinos in San Diego and three other areas looked at the need to expand their participation in medical research. The findings nationwide and in California show key challenges but also opportunities.
Perhaps most alarmingly, trust in traditional health care providers has eroded — an inevitable result of experiences with discrimination.
Even more called pharmaceutical companies, government health agencies and pharmacies unhelpful. The survey included a representative sample of more than 2, adult Americans. While the number of Latinos specifically in California was therefore a relatively small subset, our findings within the sample indicated that most of the problems facing this community nationwide are at least as present in California.
More than one-third of the Latino Californians we surveyed said they felt ignored, misrepresented or stigmatized by health information they read or heard.
And more than half said they are likely to ignore health information because they find it hard to understand. But we also found that Latino and Hispanic Americans are proactive in seeking out health information and advice.
