http://aianp.uchsc.edu/cnatt/cnatt_index.htm
Application Materials are on online at this website. The deadline is February 28, 2009.

The Native Telehealth Outreach and Technical Assistance Program (NTOTAP) is a 12- to 18-month program designed to impart technological skills to Native community members. Community members gain these skills while developing multimedia projects to address health issues in their communities.

Native community members with an interest in technology and local health issues are encouraged to apply. Applicants accepted into the program are referred to as Community Health Advocates (or advocates for short). Advocates receive training in research skills, project development, and technology related to their projects (for example, use of video cameras, video editing software, Web site development, etc.).

Advocates share their draft projects with community members for evaluation and feedback. They then finalize their projects based on the feedback and disseminate them to their communities.

Advocates can check out electronic equipment (such as laptop computers, video cameras, and digital voice recorders) for the duration of the program. Travel is paid for, and advocates receive a small stipend while participating in the program.

DisabilityInfo.gov’s Community Life Section offers a wide range of information and resources to help people with disabilities live independently and participate fully in all aspects of community life. http://tinyurl.com/yv69xv (or start on the home page http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/ and select the Community Life tab) Included in this section are “Emergency Preparedness” and “Multicultural Populations Resources“.

Some teenagers and young adults might overestimate how often they use condoms during sex, according to a study published recently in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Reuters Health reports ( http://tinyurl.com/a38sh6 ). Eve Rose of Emory University and colleagues conducted the study among 715 black women and girls ages 15 to 21 who were enrolled in an HIV prevention program. An abstract of the study is available online. http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/163/1/61 [posted on Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report  - Thursday, January 15, 2009]

International Medical Interpreters Association Publishes Guide to Medical Translations
The IMIA Guide to Medical Translation is the second in a series of guides to be published by the International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA). The publication underwent a peer-review process and is intended to be a short primer on the topic. The new publication can be downloaded at http://www.imiaweb.org/uploads/pages/438.pdf.  To see the full press release, please go to: http://tinyurl.com/8nhkv5 [posted on CLAStalk listserv]

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_disparities.cfm
The Kaiser Family Foundation provides numerous updates that you can subscribe to or review online. The Weekly Health Disparities Report is a “look at race, ethnicity and health”. You can subscribe to the weekly report at http://www.kff.org/profile/subscriptions.cfm

Race and Class Inequalities in Health
There will be a contributed paper session on Race and Class Inequalities in Health at the annual Society for Epidemiologic Research (SER) meeting in 2009.  Meeting dates are June 23-26, 2008 in Anaheim, CA Accepted abstracts will be distributed at the June meeting and will also be published in a Supplement issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. Abstracts must be submitted online at the following web address: http://epiresearch.org/ [click on Annual meeting - abstract submission form will be available within the next week] Submissions will be accepted until February 2, 2009, 11:59 p.m. EST. For inquiries about this specific session on Race and Class Inequalities in Health, contact Irene Yen (irene.yen@ucsf.edu) or Pat O’Campo (pat.ocampo@utoronto.ca) [posted on CBPR list]

2009 Upper Midwest Translators and Interpreters Association (UMTIA) Conference
Interpreting and Translations: The Profession from All Angles
St. Paul, MN
Call for Papers
http://www.umtia.org/
[posted on CLAS-talk list]

Sixth Annual Pediatric Multidisciplinary Research and Evidence-Based Practice Conference
Pediatric Research: Caring Within a Safe Environment
April 17, 2009
Eric P. Newman Education Center
St. Louis, Missouri
Call for Abstracts
St. Louis Children’s Hospital will present its Sixth Annual Research and Evidence-Based Practice Conference on Friday, April 17, 2009. We welcome abstracts from all health care professionals caring for neonates, children or families. All abstracts and proposals should be submitted by Feb. 9, 2009, via e-mail to:
Karen Balakas, PhD, RN, CNE
Associate Professor & Director, Clinical Research Partnerships
Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College
KaBalakas@bjc.org
314.454.8790
[posted on MCMLA list]

Cambio de Colores (Change of Colors) 2009 Conference
Latinos in the Heartland
http://www.cambiodecolores.org
May 18-20, 2009
Millennium Center
University of Missouri - St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
The deadline for submitting abstracts is January 23rd, 2009.
The full Call for Abstracts is available in the Web, at the following address:
http://www.cambiodecolores.org/2009/Documents/2009CallForAbstracts.htm
Cambio de Colores is an annual conference that, since 2002, brings together researchers, practitioners, and community members to discuss the issues that Missouri and Heartland states face as a result of the demographic changes that became evident in the 2000 Census. The 2009 meeting will be a multi-state conference.  For this occasion, the  University of Missouri’s Cambio Center is working in cooperation with the twelve-state North Central Regional Center for Rural Development, and the Immigrants in Midwestern Communities Inter University Network.

2009 Public Health Preparedness Summit
Public health preparedness professionals from across the nation will share innovative best practices, tools, and resources to help you build and sustain your community’s capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a public health emergency or disaster. http://www.phprep.org/2009/?CFID=2487407&CFTOKEN=48417005

This three-day summit attempted to showcase the collective contribution of NIH in the development of new knowledge in the Science of Eliminating Health Disparities; highlight the progress of NIH minority health and health disparities research activities to improve prevention, diagnostic, and treatment methods; increase awareness and understanding of disparities in health; showcase best-practice models in research, capacity-building, outreach, and integrated strategies to find solutions to health disparities; and identify gaps in health disparities research. View the webcast  at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=3091

The speaker’s at today’s NIH Summit on the Science of Health Disparities were all dynamic and knowledgeable. Governor Howard Dean MD, Chairman, Democratic National Committee started off the day with a rousing speech on the future of health care in the US. He was followed by several panelists speaking on the intersection of science, policy and practice. The lunch keynote speaker, Elijah Cummings, United States Congress, Washington, DC capped off the morning with a powerful and inspiring talk that had audience members visibly moved. Moving into the afternoon breakout sessions was more of the same - presentations and sharing of knowledge and action around overcoming health disparities. Below are some resources I learned about while at the Summit

Closing the Gap in a Generation: Health Equity through Action on the Social Determinants of Health
http://www.who.int/bookorders/anglais/detart1.jsp?sesslan=1&codlan=1&codcol=15&codcch=741
Final Report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health
Nonserial Publication
World Health Organization
The Final Report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health sets out key areas of daily living conditions and of the underlying structural drivers that influence them in which action is needed. It provides analysis of social determinants of health and concrete examples of types of action that have proven effective in improving health and health equity in countries at all levels of socioeconomic development.

The Community Health Promotion Handbook: Action Guides to Improve Community Health
http://www.cdc.gov/steps/actionguides/
Partnership for Prevention® and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have developed The Community Health Promotion Handbook: Action Guides to Improve Community Health, an evidence-based tool that bridges the gap between research and practice. Five selected recommendations from the Task Force on Community Preventive Services’ The Guide to Community Preventive Services: What Works to Promote Health? have been translated into action guides that provide public health practitioners and others interested in health promotion with the necessary “how to” guidance to implement effective community-level strategies.

Moving Upstream: How Interventions That. Address the Social Determinants of Health Can. Improve Health and Reduce Disparities
http://www.nursingcenter.com/pdf.asp?AID=819665 (pdf)
David R. Williams, Manuela V. Costa, Adebola O. Odunlami, and Selina A. Mohammed
J Public Health Management Practice, 2008, November(Suppl), S8–S17
CopyrightC 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

December 16 - 18, 2008 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, MD
http://www.blsmeetings.net/2008healthdisparitiessummit/
The National Institutes of Health will host the largest national conference ever on health disparities. This is the first summit of its kind. It involves all of the NIH Institutes and Centers and brings together more than 3000 national and international clinicians, researchers, policy leaders, academicians, and community leaders to highlight recent progress made in addressing health disparities, and to redefine the agenda for the health disparities research.

I will be presenting a poster at this event, so will be on the road the rest of the week.