Soap operas. They've been a part of the American television landscape since the 1950s. The loss of Guiding Light last week, on the air for 57 years (not counting its 15 years on the radio), clearly demonstrates the obsession and passion Americans feel for the characters of their favorite "made for TV" fantasies.

Not surprisingly, Latinos love their soap operas too. Unlike their American counterparts, telenovelas (soap operas from Spanish-speaking countries) are aired in the evening. They are often a nightly ritual, watched by the entire family, and are a popular form of entertainment for people of all age groups.

In an effort to take advantage of the popularity of soap operas among Latinos, The Colorado Health Foundation began using a telenovela as a platform from which to embed culturally relevant health-related messages and information and provoke discussion of topics such as diabetes, substance abuse, and the lack of health insurance. Although the telenovela, "Encrucijada: Sin Salud No Hay Nada" (Crossroads: Without Health, There Is Nothing), currently airs only in Denver (and online), I applaud The Colorado Health Foundation and Entravision (the television network responsible for broadcasting the program) for partnering to produce such an important product.

In doing our part to reach the Latino community, The National Campaign recently spearheaded a pregnancy prevention digital media project targeting Latino teens through the use and creation of user-generated content. The goal of this project is to (1) address the shortage of pregnancy prevention messages aimed at Latino teens by providing Latino youth the opportunity to create and star in the videos themselves and (2) obtain as much Latino-youth-generated video content as possible in order to produce several high-quality teen pregnancy prevention Personal Public Service Announcements (PPSAs) that reflect the communities they were created in. We hope these messages will allow the National Campaign to expand its rich history with entertainment media to include future collaborations with Spanish and English-speaking Latino-targeted media outlets.

By developing innovative methods of engaging Latino teens, youths, and parents with health messages, The National Campaign hopes to continue providing the Latino community with information that will resonate with them while being mindful of the many cultural nuances that need to be recognized when reaching out to Latinos.

Write us a comment to let us know what you or your organization is doing to reach Latinos in your community. What has worked? What hasn't? We welcome your insight.