WHEREAS, Latinos in the United States continue to suffer the effects of limited access to quality healthcare, and

WHEREAS, evidence of this is the alarming incidence of diseases among Latinos related to this disparity including diabetes, cancer, and HIV, and

WHEREAS, 150,000 Americans, including Latinos, die every year from medication errors and 1.3 billion people including Latinos are accidentally injured by medical therapy in the United States annually, and

WHEREAS, up to $75-billion in hospitalizations annually, including those of Latinos, are preventable because they result from the misuse of medicines, now

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the League of United Latin American Citizens, LULAC, the nation's oldest and largest advocacy organization for Latinos, hereby supports Hispanic Community Development, HCD, a California-based Latino organization staging "Buena Salud", a National Latino Health and Technology Conference and Expo to be held in Los Angeles in 2002 to focus national attention on this Healthcare crisis affecting Latinos in the United States and to seek solutions through improvements in systems and technology, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, LULAC supports HCD's call for public hearings to be held in advance of this Conference and Expo in select cities to receive public input and testimony on the serious effects of this discriminatory situation, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, LULAC supports HCD in the establishment of the National Latino Health Research Center at UCLA and either UTSA or UT Health Science Center in San Antonio, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, LULAC calls upon companies involved in delivering Healthcare to Latinos including pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors; pharmacy retailers, hospitals, and other related business entities to dialogue with HCD and LULAC, to seek ways to improve their systems and procedures, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, LULAC calls upon the same companies to actively support, assist in funding, and participate in campaigns with HCD to educate Latinos of these Healthcare concerns.

Approved this 8th day of December, 2001.

Rick Dovalina
LULAC National President