Overall, Latinos
are experiencing good health despite poverty, lack of health
insurance and low education attainment. This phenomenon is known as
the Latino Epidemiological Paradox.
Latinos are more likely to work in
industries that do not provide health care as a job benefit, and
more frequently have barriers to coverage due to immigration status.
Blacks and
Latinos share the same poverty rate at 24% three times as high as
the poverty rate of Whites and nearly twice as high as that of
Asians.
27% of Latinos have no regular
source of medical care, corresponding to their lower levels of
health insurance coverage, a barrier to identifying and treating
potentially serious conditions at an early stage.
Over one-third of Latino adults in
Los Angeles County do not have health insurance. Many Latino
communities suffer from severe shortage of physicians who speak
Spanish and are culturally competent.
In 2001, 26% of Los Angeles' Latino youth (in grades
5,7, and 9) were considered overweight. This is the largest
percentage when compared with other children in the same grades for
other racial/ethnic groups in L.A.
Source:
United Way LA
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