The Hispanic population in the U.S. is growing. It reached 54 million as of July 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Hispanics are the largest ethnic minority in the country and account for 17 percent of the nation’s total population.
If your pharmacy is in an area with a large Hispanic population, you should consider offering services and products that are related to the health challenges this community faces.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a profile for Hispanic health in the U.S., detailing health risk factors affecting this population.
If you’re not addressing the health risks facing Hispanics in your pharmacy, you might be missing out on an opportunity to help patients and grow your business. Here are five health risks Hispanics face as outlined by the CDC and tips for how your pharmacy can provide meaningful services to this population.
1. Obesity
Obesity affects 47.1 percent of U.S.-born Hispanics, and 10.3 percent of foreign-born Hispanics, making it a leading health risk factor for Hispanics living in the U.S. Overall, obesity is 23 percent more prevalent among Hispanics than among their white counterparts, according to the CDC report.
Helping Hispanic patients lose weight can help combat the other issues associated with obesity, including high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Pharmacy tip: Consider sponsoring an exercise class at your local community center to encourage people to get healthy. An aerobics dance class, such as Zumba, a fitness program with Hispanic roots, is a good choice.
2. Smoking
Overall, smoking is 10 percent less prevalent among Hispanics than among white Americans, with only 14 percent of the total U.S. Hispanic population smoking compared to 24 percent of white Americans. To make your smoking cessation program work for Hispanics, you need to promote your program to more specific target markets.
For example, the smoking rate among Puerto Rican males is 26 percent, and is 22 percent among Cuban males.
Pharmacy tip: If your community has a large population of Puerto Ricans or Cubans, consider promoting your smoking cessation program to those target markets, and be sure that all of your promotional and educational materials about the program are available in Spanish.
3. Diabetes
Currently, more than 50 million Hispanics living in the U.S., or about 16 percent of the Hispanic population in the U.S., suffer from diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. Hispanics have about a 50 percent higher rate of death from diabetes than whites, and Mexicans and Puerto Ricans are about twice as likely to die from diabetes than white Americans.
Pharmacy tip: If you don’t already offer diabetes education classes, consider starting a program. Market the program to the Hispanic community in your area and consider bringing in a Spanish-speaking diabetes educator to reach as many people as possible.
4. Blood pressure
While Hispanics are just as likely to have high blood pressure as whites, there’s 24 percent more poorly controlled high blood pressure among the Hispanic community.
Pharmacy tip: As you know, medication adherence is important to managing high blood pressure, so focus on starting and promoting adherence programs to Hispanic patients. If you have any enrollment or marketing materials with your adherence program, be sure they’re available in Spanish, too.
5. Liver disease
Mexicans are nearly twice as likely to die from chronic liver disease and cirrhosis than whites. If your pharmacy is in an area with a large Mexican-American population, educate your patients about liver disease, risk factors and prevention.
Pharmacy tip: Partner with a local physician to raise awareness about liver health, host a healthy eating seminar, or suggest a multivitamin that supports liver health to patients who are a part of the Mexican-American population in your community.
As always, it’s important to look at your pharmacy’s specific patient demographics before marketing to a targeted group of patients, like Hispanics.
