Spanish Version of a Childhood Leukemia Resource Now Available from the Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN)
Washington, DC (PRWEB) August 26, 2014 -- The Children’s Environmental Health Network’s (CEHN) Childhood Leukemia Fact Sheet, created with the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment (CIRCLE), has been translated and is now available in Spanish. This resource can be used to educate parents, health care professionals, child care providers, and other audiences on the environmental hazards most strongly associated with risk for childhood leukemia, and it provides tips to reduce exposure to those hazards.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are over 37 million people (aged 5 and older) for whom Spanish is the primary language spoken at home. Twenty-six percent of these people reported speaking English “not well” or “not at all. In addition, there are few Spanish language educational resources available on environmental health hazards to children in the home or child care setting, and this lack of access to information can contribute to disparities in children’s health and development. Research out of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital found that Hispanic children are more likely than those from other racial and ethnic backgrounds to be diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and are more likely to die of their disease.
CEHN seeks to help bridge the health literacy gap to reduce these disparities. This translated Childhood Leukemia fact sheet is but one piece of this effort. CEHN’s Eco-Healthy Child Care® (EHCC) Program offers training, technical assistance, resources, and an endorsement process to child care providers to help them provide healthier environments in their child care settings. The endorsement checklist has recently been translated into Spanish, and translation of educational fact sheets on different environmental exposures such as lead, pesticides, and household chemicals is underway. Mark Magaña, CEHN board member and founder and Principal of Magaña Associates and Hispanic Strategy Group, said: “Resources translated into Spanish will be extremely beneficial to CEHN's mission to educate health professionals, policy makers, and community members in preventative strategies, and to elevate public awareness of children's environmental health issues and hazards."
CEHN is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit whose mission is to protect the developing child from environmental health hazards and promote a healthier environment. Creating and providing resources such as this fact sheet is a critical part of CEHN’s work to translate emerging science into actionable steps that the public can take to protect their health and their children’s health.
Kristie Trousdale, Children’s Environmental Health Network, +1 2025434033 Ext: 10, [email protected]
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