The U.S. is home to a wide variety of ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. In the field of scientific and medical research and development, there is a great unmet need for improved representation of minority populations such as African, Latin, and Asian descent. Even educational materials on health are mostly limited to the English language. In an effort to make healthcare more culturally sensitive and accessible, a partnership between two key organizations has initiated an awareness campaign for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Spanish.

The CHEST Foundation, together with Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc., has just launched “Tome Un Respiro,” a COPD campaign that aims to educate Hispanic patients and the public about this disease’s prevalence, available treatments, and recommended management in a language they can easily understand. Patients can access these Spanish-language campaign materials through CHESTnet.org/TomeUnRespiro.

COPD affects about 24 million Americans, and is ranked third among the primary causes of mortality in the country. As of 2012, the number of Hispanics in America has grown to about 53 million, with the Hispanic population in California alone already considered the largest single racial/ethnic group, exceeding whites. These numbers underscore the need for more Hispanic-friendly information dissemination.

This campaign provides all the information anyone would need to better understand COPD. A booklet entitled, “Living Well with COPD,” a glossary of terms, a list of risk factors, treatment options, references, and available screening tests are only some of the Spanish materials that patients can now access online.

One of the risk factors of COPD is obesity. In America, Hispanic adults and children are more likely to be obese than other racial groups. This could mean overweight to obese Hispanic children are more prone to developing asthma, one of the conditions often associated with COPD.