Promoting Latin@ health literacy: A pathway towards health equity

By Vanessa Leon-Gamez

Health literacy is a critical pillar of healthcare, yet it remains overlooked within marginalized communities. Health literacy is the ability to find and understand health information, communicate needs and concerns to health professionals, and make well-informed decisions for one’s health. Understanding health-related information empowers our communities to navigate our health systems and keep each other safe. For Latin@s who face unique cultural, linguistic, and systemic barriers, culturally competent health information becomes critically important to improving the health of our communities.

The current state of Latin@ health

Latin@s in the United States face significant health disparities due to unique intersectional barriers. Latin@s are not a monolith, but a rich and diverse population that may speak different languages and come from diverse racial backgrounds. Those who are undocumented face additional barriers when accessing insurance services, stable incomes, and trusted medical professionals.

We know that Latin@s are more likely to be diagnosed with preventable diseases or reach more advanced stages of disease than those who are white. A report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that Hispanic adults are 50% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime and suffer from diabetes-related conditions such as vision loss or kidney failure. Our communities are 30% more likely to die from breast cancer as they are less likely to be diagnosed during the early stages due to infrequent mammogram tests or lack of follow-up on abnormal results. Studies have shown that Latin@s with limited English proficiency and lower education levels have lower health literacy scores, creating a barrier to accessing cancer screenings such as Pap smears and other critical tests.

Latin@s were already facing significant barriers before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the pandemic introduced additional layers of uncertainty and stress. Latin@s experienced disproportionate health and economic impacts, facing the stress of unemployment or reduced work hours. In addition to financial instability, Latin@s faced significant increases in food insecurity, with families struggling to feed themselves or access nutritious foods. Economic instability, food insecurity, language barriers, and immigration status are some of the intersectional barriers Latin@s experience. By improving health literacy and providing targeted support, we can promote better well-being and safety for Latin@ communities.

Cultural competence in health communication

To improve health literacy among our Latin@ communities, we need cultural competence, the ability of systems to provide care to patients with diverse values and beliefs by tailoring the delivery to meet patient’s cultural, linguistic, and social needs. Healthcare providers need to understand and respect cultural beliefs and practices, as many Latin@s rely on traditional remedies and familial advice before seeking professional medical help. In many of Latin@ households, health decisions are made collectively, highlighting the importance of involving family members in health education and pushing for family-inclusive programs to promote healthy behaviors for the entire family, not just the impacted person.

Latin@ cultures are beautiful in that we seek community and collaboration and share wisdom. From Vicks Vapor Rub to Chamomile tea to traditional healers like sobadoras or curanderas, our cultural practices should be recognized and respected by healthcare professionals while at the same time incorporating evidence-based and scientifically sound care. Incorporating culturally-specific practices and taking the time to have meaningful health conversations helps build trust with patients, making them more receptive to discussions about health misconceptions.

For many children of immigrants, we often witness our parents, especially father figures, ignore medical check-ups or follow-ups due to cultural norms of patriarchy or machismo that limit the way our families access care. Healthcare providers need to be aware of these social stigmas to build trust and help overcome these barriers.

Currently, we live in a digital era, where media platforms like Facebook often push misinformation onto our communities. This is especially true for older generations of Latin@s who are still familiarizing themselves with these rapidly evolving platforms. We need to work together to encourage our families and community members to fact-check information, have relationships with their healthcare providers, and consult their community-based programs for guidance before making important health decisions.

Multilingual resources and services

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Hispanics have the lowest health literacy levels compared to other racial and ethnic groups, largely due to language barriers, which contribute to health disparities.”

Language barriers are a significant barrier for many Latin@s in accessing and understanding healthcare information. Our healthcare systems need to provide bilingual resources and access to services, including medical forms, educational materials, and interpreters. Many children of Spanish-speaking immigrants, like myself, often had to serve as the interpreters of our families from a very young age, creating limitations in our parents’ self-advocacy and putting us children in difficult and potentially traumatizing positions.

Although there have been improvements in providing Spanish-speaking translation, it’s important to recognize that not all Latin@s speak and understand Spanish in the same way, and for Indigenous Latin@s, Spanish may not be their spoken language at all. Therefore, we need to move beyond just bilingual services, but towards multilingual resources that truly reflect the diversity of our communities. Our parents, siblings, and community members deserve accessible healthcare services regardless of immigration status, language, or socioeconomic status.

Community-based health education

Community-based health education programs can be effective in enhancing health literacy among Latin@s communities. These programs can address specific health needs and are successful when involving trusted community leaders and using familiar settings. Places like community resource centers, churches, barber shops, and beauty parlors or schools can reach broader audiences and create a supportive collective environment that many Latin@s desire while living in the United States.

Latin@s culture is collective, interconnected, and built on values of mutual aid. Therefore, our prevention strategies should be rooted in collective care, providing space for the community to connect and allowing families to make their own informed decisions.

Need for change

We know that our communities are suffering because we directly experience it, witness it, and now have more research and academic conversations that include Latin@s. However, this is still not enough. Studies continue to use “Hispanic” to define our entire Latin@ communities without recognizing the unique barriers that Black, Indigenous, or LGBTQ+ Latin@s face when navigating these systems. Our researchers, policymakers, and health providers need to change the way we categorize and collect data, making space for Latin@s to self-identify to ensure more accurate representation.

Improving Latin@ health literacy requires systemic change. We need to advocate for policies that promote health equity, such as expanding access to affordable healthcare and increasing funding for multilingual health education programs. We need to encourage those within our Latin@ community who have the opportunity and privilege to vote, to do so and call upon our elected officials. We need to fight for a better future together and use our strengths of interconnectedness to advocate for an inclusive healthcare system.

Enhancing health literacy among Latin@s is not just a matter of providing information; it’s about ensuring that the information is accessible, understandable, and culturally competen. We need to embrace our values of community, family, and traditional wisdom so that we can create stronger and healthier families.

Together, we can build a foundation of health literacy that supports and uplifts the Latin@ community, creates a culture of information and well-informed decisions, and promotes wellness and healing in our communities.

Resources to check out

Vanessa Leon-Gamez

Vanessa Leon-Gamez (she, her, ella) is currently a senior at the University of Denver and will be an incoming first-year Master’s in Public Health student at the Colorado School of Public Health. She is a proud Latina and daughter of Mexican immigrants, who was raised in a rural community on the western slope of Colorado. She is passionate about creating access to equitable healthcare resources, has been involved in reproductive justice advocacy, and is a certified peer educator working to make sex education accessible to young people. Because of her experiences living in a rural community, she aims to be a researcher who centers marginalized voices, justice, healing, and decolonization praxis.