The National Latina Health Organization (NLHO) works towards the goal of bi-lingual access to quality health care and the self-empowerment of Latinas through culturally respectful educational programs, health advocacy, outreach, research and public policy...a very holistic approach to Latina health. Self-empowerment is a cornerstone of the organization's philosophy. Latinas can and must assume greater control of their health practices and lifestyles. Traditional Latina/o culture presents many health practices that are viewed as strengths that must be supported and encouraged. Within that same culture we experience beliefs and practices that have proven to be damaging to the health of the Latina/o community. The economic circumstances of many Latinas also create barriers that must be overcome in order to ensure the usefulness of health promotion and educational programs aimed at them. Listed below are health issues that the NLHO will focus on for the year 2002-2003.

	Access to quality health care for all residents of this country regardless of age, pre-existing conditions, sexual orientation, language spoken, employment status, geographic location or immigration status. Access must also available to those that are incarcerated. If access is not available to all, the health of the public at large will be jeopardized.
	A holistic approach to health that does not compartmentalize body parts, diseases or emotional status. An approach that truly encompasses the body, mind and spirit. The guaranteed availability of language appropriate health education and educational materials to guarantee informed, healthful decision-making and consent.
	The availability of bilingual/bicultural practitioners; including office staff, technicians, health educators and workers at all levels. If language competent staff is not available at the entry level, when patients are making appointments, then there is no access.
	The availability of information and education about sex and sexuality in clinics and schools.
	School health curriculums or programs that address youth development issues and are not limited to an "abstinence only" curriculum. Youth need to be well educated and informed regarding their developing bodies so they can make informed healthful decisions for themselves.
	The NLHO was represented at the Durban, South Africa Conference Against Racism and presented on the status of reproductive health of Latinas in the U.S. An article on Latina health was also presented through the publication, Time To Rise from the Women of Color Resource Center.
	The exclusion of the "marriage promotion", or more accurately, "marriage coercion" initiative in the plan for Welfare Reauthorization.
	State and federal funding for health programs must have cultural competency requirements so that programs are relevant and meaningful to the populations they serve.
	Safe and affordable birth control methods for women and girls that are in their control.
	The availability and access to safe abortions, emergency contraception (EC) and early prenatal care for all women and girls so we can have healthy babies, if and when we so choose.
	Freedom from all reproductive abuses.
	The state and national legislative attempts at restricting or prohibiting access to reproductive health care through "religious exemptions" or "conscience clauses"; and through Catholic hospital mergers.

Background Information:
In order to adequately serve younger and older Latinas, a rapidly growing segment of our society, we must have a basic understanding of their experience, characteristics and status in the United States. Four critical areas include:

1. The history of Latino immigration and migration, including countries of origin and length of U.S. residency.
2. Culture and the related factors of race, language, religion and spirituality.
3. Socio-economic status, including age distribution, fertility, employment, political representation, housing and education.
4. Health status indicators and their implications for the well-being of Latinas and their communities in general.
5. The impact of racism.

Health and human service providers seldom have the luxury of reflecting on the historical experience, cultural influences and educational status of their clientele. However, to ignore history, cultural ties and socio-economic status in the case of Latinos, is to ensure program failures and client dissatisfaction. While Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans and other Latinos have different customs and historical experiences, they share a historical empathy because of the major political and socio-economic role that the United States has played with each of their respective countries. In addition, U.S. Latinos have forged a strong bond through a common language and many shared cultural traditions.

In the mid-1800's the United States conquered the northwestern part of Mexico and offered citizenship to the Mexican-origin people living there. During the late 1800's Puerto Rico became the property of the United States as a result of the war with Spain. In 1917, Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens by Congressional mandate and to this date the island remains a territory of the U.S. By that time, also due to the Spanish American War, some Cubans began to migrate to the U.S. It was in 1959 when the U.S. experienced a mass influx of middle and upper classes of Cuban society. In 1980, a second wave of Cubans, less educated and less assimilable than their predecessors, arrived. The fourth group of Latinos includes immigrants from throughout the Spanish-speaking world. It is difficult to generalize about them. Many came to the U.S. in search of an education and economic improvement. Others have come as political and economic refugees due to the turbulence and persecution they experienced in their native countries. They often are coming from countries that they had to leave because ofrepressive and destructive regimes that were supported by the United States, the same country they are escaping to.

Each group's history has socially and culturally impacted our society. Latinos share intricate and complex racial origins. The Spanish language and the practice of religion and spirituality are deeply integrated into Latina/o culture. They are viewed as major factors in the ability of Latinas/os to maintain their cultural identity and as pervasive factors in their adjustment to U.S. society. The colonization of our countries and our peoples continues to have a tremendous impact on Latinas/os today. We live in an occupied land, occupied by North Americans in what used to be Mexico and native land to other indigenous people. "We cannot act as if there is not a legacy to that invasion of European forms on to our whole continent and the kind of conflict and confusion that that invasion created. And the legacy that we still struggle to be whole, to be complete persons in a way that reflects all of our heritages." (Concha Saucedo, (Executive Director of Instituto Familiar de la Raza) from a presentation at the American Psychological Women’s Conference, 1996.)

And there is evidence of that legacy everywhere we turn: Proposition 187 in California in 1994 that was a direct attack on Latino immigrants with copycat attempts in other states. Yet Welfare Reform in 1996 included many of the unjust provisions. Specifically, elimination of benefits for immigrants and prenatal care for undocumented women. The passage of Proposition 209 in 1996 eliminated affirmative action in California. Proposition 227 in 1998 eliminated bilingual education; and Proposition 21 in 2000 attacked and criminalized youth and immigrants of color. California is leading the rest of the country in regressive, repressive legislation. California also produced Proposition 186 a few years ago that was named the universal health care bill. But it also excluded immigrants in many situations.

The Latina/o population in the United States is approximately 22 million or approximately 9% of the total population with the majority in California… over 7 million. Latinas are 9% of the U.S. population, yet represent 29.3% of those that are poor. They are one of the fastest growing and most diverse groups in the country and are expected to increase to 10.7 of the population in 2010. There are more Latinas/os in the labor force than any other ethnic group yet are over-represented in the numbers of the uninsured and the medically underserved. Nationally 32.4% of Latinos were uninsured in 1990 compared with 12.9% for whites and 19.7% for Blacks. In California there are more than 6 million uninsured; over half of those are Latina/o. According to the National Council of la Raza, “Fifty percent of all Hispanic women earned less than $10,000, an income group especially unlikely to be insured. In 1990, of the total 661,000 working-poor Hispanic women, one of every four was uninsured (53.4%), compared to two in five White women (40%) and one in three Black women (35.6%).”

In the United States, racism is a matter of fact. Racism is the harmful impact of institutional policies and social attitudes resulting from classifying people by race and ethnicity and thus denying them basic human needs. Racism robs affected groups of their power and inherent knowledge. It restricts opportunity to participate in society and to share the available wealth. As a result of belonging to groups or population which have been historically subjected to domination, dispossession and dispersal, many people suffer the full burden of discrimination based on race, color, religion, ethnic, and national origin. As women, (we) are therefore doubly disadvantaged in (our) experience of serious political, economic and social deprivation.
In like manner, the global agenda to control population could lead to the restriction of people of color's reproductive freedom without expediting socio-economic structures and opportunities for human development.

Indigenous peoples and people of color, though spread over diverse regions, have experienced discrimination in similar ways, and this barrier persists. It is hardly a coincidence that current population control policies are targeted at people in the so-called Third World, all of whom are people of color; and that within industrial countries such as the United States, the targets are also indigenous and people of color communities. The debate about rapid population growth and its implication for "sustainable development" reveal a linkage between discrimination and deprivation, on the one hand, with population control targets, on the other hand. Poor women are blamed for causing poverty. They are accused of having too many children which population planners assume are unintended. At any rate, the widespread concern about "sustainable development" emphasizes what people in "third and fourth tier" economies within the U.S. have always asked: what is sustainable for whom? The history of the world clearly demonstrates that indigenous and people of color have been on the whole adversely impacted by European and American "development objectives." To support their life-style, affluent and dominant white communities have been eager to exert their influence and jurisdiction over peoples of color and indigenous peoples in order to access their lands and natural resources and to use their people for cheap labor. (Statement On Poverty, Development and Population Activities; a document the NLHO co-authored and presented at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994.) This is our history, our background, who we are.....our legacy. It is important to understand how it impacts our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health.