We are excited to announce that we are working with a translator to convert our children's picture book into Spanish. It is so important to me to ensure that this group of children can enjoy and learn from our book too, especially since a large percentage of Spanish-speaking American children are part of the African American and Hispanic communities.
Why is this so important to me? Because, when compared with Caucasian children:
~ African-American and Hispanic children have significantly higher rates of food-induced anaphylaxis (the immediately life-threatening reaction)
~ Both groups of minority children have higher odds of emergency department visits for food-allergy-related reactions.
~ Both groups have greater odds of having or developing eczema.
~ Food allergies have increased among Black children at a rate of 2.1 percent per decade and 1.2 percent among Hispanic children (compared to 1 percent among Caucasian children).
AND
~ African-American children have significantly higher odds of having severe asthma paired with their food allergy than Caucasian children!
So, I care because I am health coach who wants to help anyone living with food allergies, and those who speak Spanish make up a large portion of that demographic.
Plus, it is also a bit more personal for our family.
We have a son (who this first book is based on) and three adopted daughters. Our youngest daughter is a genetic mix of West African and Hispanic. She was extremely sick the first five years of her life, with multiple life-threatening trips to the ER due to a combination of anaphylaxis, severe asthma, and reflux.
Not only do we need to raise awareness and compassion in our society, we need more studies so we can find ways to slow these trends! But, in the meantime, maybe our book can at least help these kids feel a bit better about their allergies and a lot less alone.
The Spanish version will be available in hardcover, softcover, and ebook at all the same retailers where the English version is sold, hopefully no later than 4/9/2021 (but we will release it as soon as it is ready).
Sources:
PW: https://www.physiciansweekly.com/racial-differences-in-pediatric-food-allergy/
Allergic Living: https://www.allergicliving.com/2020/06/15/food-allergy-and-asthma-the-burden-on-the-black-community/
NCBI: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3182844/
FARE: https://www.foodallergy.org/search-results?keywords=hispanic%20children