Latinas Trail in Screening for Cancer, HIV, Study Finds

Latinas in California are less likely than other women to get early screening and treatment for breast and cervical cancers, high blood pressure and HIV, according to a report issued Thursday by a health policy group.

The report by the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California states that although the Latina population is largely healthy--in part because of relative youthfulness--these women face a lack of access to health care that makes them increasingly vulnerable to illness.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of death for Latinas in California, and the incidence of cervical cancer is higher among Latinas than any other female population, according to the report. Latinas also have relatively high rates of hospitalization for diabetes and kidney disease.

Because benefits often are not available through their employment, less than half of the Latinas in the state have health insurance coverage, compared with three-quarters of white women, according to the report. Latinas make up nearly a third of California’s female population.

“There is a huge health [care] access issue,” said Mandy Johnson, executive director of the Community Clinic Assn. in Los Angeles County. “Latinos have the lowest rate of insurance of any cultural or ethnic group in California. They quite frequently don’t have a regular source of care.”

Latinas tend to underuse available prenatal services, the report says. The fear engendered by welfare reform and passage of Proposition 187, the anti-illegal immigration initiative, has kept pregnant immigrants away, Johnson said, even though they are still eligible for Medi-Cal coverage. Fewer than one in four Latinas uses Medi-Cal, despite high levels of poverty.

That is problematic not only for them and their children, but also for the public, Johnson said. Prenatal care may be the only chance to screen these women for a host of infectious or contagious illnesses, including tuberculosis, HIV and gonorrhea.

“For many . . . women, prenatal care is the only health care they ever get,” Johnson said.

On the basis of their research, funded by the James Irvine Foundation, the coalition called Thursday for policymakers to address deficiencies in Latina health care.