Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month at PhRMA

National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15) provides an opportunity to celebrate the history, culture and contributions of Hispanic Americans. Since it was first observed in 1968, the U.S. Hispanic population has grown to more than 63 million and is expected to continue to rise.

At PhRMA, we are excited to honor the remarkable contributions of Hispanic health care professionals and are dedicated to developing new cures for diseases that disproportionately impact Latino populations. Growing up in a Mexican American family, this work means so much to me.

My grandparents deeply valued their health care and relationships with their physicians, and sadly my grandfather passed away from chronic kidney disease and my grandmother from dementia. I recently shared their story at MANA’s Las Primeras Awards event in Washington, DC, where I was honored to be the recipient of MANA’s 2023 HerMANO Award.

Founded in 1974, MANA, A National Latina Organization is one of the oldest active Mexican-American advocacy organizations in the United States. The audience was full of individuals with similar stories who understood the challenges being faced by Hispanic individuals across the country and the way diseases disproportionately affect Hispanic Americans:

• Alzheimer’s Disease: Hispanic Americans are 1.5 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s or another dementia than white Americans.
• Chronic Liver Disease: Both Hispanic men and women have a chronic liver disease rate that is twice that of the non-Hispanic white population.
• COVID-19: Hispanic Americans have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 when compared to other populations. Hispanic Americans have been 2.8x more likely to be hospitalized and 2.3x more likely to die from COVID-19 infection than non-Hispanic white Americans.
• Diabetes: Hispanic Americans are 70% more likely than non-Hispanic white Americans to be diagnosed with diabetes by a physician.
• High Blood Pressure: Nearly 1 in 4 Hispanic Americans has high blood pressure, which can lead to a heart attack, stroke or kidney disease.
• HIV: Both male and female Hispanic Americans are approximately 4x as likely to have either HIV infection or AIDS as compared to white Americans.
• Tuberculosis: Hispanic Americans account for approximately 30% of all people reported with tuberculosis.

To help address these disparities, PhRMA is pursuing policies and practices that advance more affordable and equitable health care. Each day, we are developing new partnerships across the country that focus on supporting local sites and patients, including improving vaccine education and awareness, enhancing diversity in clinical trials, and developing new treatments.

These efforts — and the researchers at our member companies pursuing treatments and cures — make me proud to be part of an industry that is working to improve the health of all Americans, including Hispanic Americans. I hope my grandparents would be proud, too.

Learn more about PhRMA’s commitment to building a more equitable health care system here.