The Latino community lacks knowledge of genetics, genetic conditions, and genetic testing. Many misconceptions and myths exist surrounding topics of heritage and genetic conditions and their relationship to health.
Family health history helps predict risk for varied health concerns such as heart disease, colorectal cancer, breast and ovarian cancer, osteoporosis, asthma, type 2 diabetes, suicide, etc. It also helps to identify whether you or others in your family may be at increased risk of disease. Yet, many people are unaware of relatives’ medical histories, and many health professionals underutilize this information in advising patients. Latinos are no exception.
To better inform the Latino community, the National Council of La Raza’s Institute for Hispanic Health (NCLR/IHH) and the National Institutes of Health’s National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) have established a one-year pilot project partnership to develop effective and efficient ways to reach Latino communities with information about genetics and rare diseases.
The information will be taken directly to the community through the development of a training module specific to the needs of promotores de salud. The module will be initially used by the two partner community-based organizations (CBOs) involved with this project: La Clínica de la Raza in Oakland and La Clínica del Pueblo in Washington, D.C. In addition, NCLR/IHH will share the processes, outcomes, and challenges with its network of more than 300 CBOs throughout the nation.
This year, the project seeks to:
- Conduct a formative assessment that will guide the development of culturally- and language-appropriate materials.
- Design the educational training module.
- Facilitate the implementation of training sessions with promotores de salud.
