ADVOCACY SPOTLIGHT: CALL TO ACTION - LATINO HEALTH SUMMIT

On November 20 & 21, 2008, The Latino Policy Institute held its Latino Health Summit at the UCONN School of Social Work, in West Hartford, CT. The health summit is the first step in creating a powerful network of Latino voices that can improve the lives of our parents, our partners, our sisters, our brothers and our children. Focusing on six main issues that disproportionately affect Latinos in Connecticut, it is the Institute’s belief that by utilizing the collective energies of the Latino community, opportunities for policy change can both be identified and implemented, together, by pledging to engage in the process of finding solutions to the urgent problems facing Latinos.

Elena Rios, M.D., MSPH, keynote speaker for the Latino Health Summit, said it best in September during a speech on the floor at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, “At some point in our lives, we all face health care problem… but the deck is stacked against some of us.’’ - Elena Rios, M.D., MSPH.

As Latinos continue to be plagued by asthma, cancer, depression, HIV/AIDS and STDS, obesity, and access to care, the Latino Policy Institute encourages others to join the fight, to give a face and a voice to Connecticut Latinos in the struggle against health disparities.

This can only be considered the first steps toward closing the health care gap that is now leaving Latinos behind. Just as the rooster's crow is a collective wake-up call to rise and take on the day; This is a call to action!

Juntos venceremos las desigualdades de salud