Hispanic Health News
New Tool to Help Hispanics with Diabetes
A new online game called HealthSeeker Explorando tu Salud, Paso a Paso is now available to the 10 million Latino and Hispanic users on Facebook, with the goal of helping with lifestyle and nutritional tips to manage diabetes. To mark World Diabetes Day on November 14th, the introduction of HealthSeeker aims to provide the growing number of Latinos and Hispanics with diabetes a unique online experience that combines a supportive social network with important information on living with the disease.
Obesity and physical inactivity are the main risk factors for diabetes among Latino and Hispanic Americans. HealthSeeker motivates users to take on simple, everyday challenges, such as adding more fiber, fruit and vegetables to their diets or increasing their daily activity, to help achieve their lifestyle goals. Latino and Hispanic Americans are twice as likely to have diabetes than are Caucasian Americans. In fact, approximately 10 percent of Latino and Hispanic Americans (2 million) are reported to have diabetes. Latino and Hispanic Americans also have higher rates of diabetic retinopathy and kidney disease than Caucasian Americans.
There are missions, misiones, and action steps, los pasos a seguir, to help players achieve several lifestyle goals, metas de estilo de vida. The missions and action steps that players select must be completed in order to advance in the game. The lifestyle goals include eating healthier, achieving an optimal weight, lowering blood sugar levels and lowering cardiovascular risk factors. As action steps are completed and players return to report their progress, they receive experience points and other “awards” for their achievements.
HealthSeeker is a unique collaboration between experts, advocates and industry partners who are on the front lines of diabetes care. It was developed by the Diabetes Hands Foundation, in collaboration with the Joslin Diabetes Center and Joslin Latino Diabetes Initiative, with support provided by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
