However, these groups are not immune to health disparities. Asian Americans are twice as likely to die from liver cancer as the general population, and diabetes continues to affect Pacific Islanders at increased rates. Further, these groups are diagnosed with tuberculosis at more than eight times the rate of whites. May is also Hepatitis Awareness Month, and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders comprise almost half of the 1 million people living with chronic hepatitis B virus in the U.S.
Factors including infrequent medical visits, language and cultural barriers, and a lack of health insurance also affect the health of these groups. Realizing the necessity of culturally sensitive research and prevention efforts, NIMHD has funded dozens of grants to improve the health of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders over the years. Some current projects include:
CAUSES: Causes of Asian American mortality Understood by Socio-Economic Status
Current health data often refers to the Asian American population in the aggregate, rather than exploring the unique health challenges of individuals of Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese descent. This R01 grant at Stanford University seeks to fill these knowledge gaps by examining ethnic, nativity, and geographic differences in the mortality of Asian sub-populations over the past decade. Following careful analysis, researchers hope to inform research agendas, policy, and clinical guidelines for each specific health group.
Center for Native and Pacific Health Disparities Research
Based at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, this Center of Excellence serves as a regional focal point for research to improve the health of Pacific populations. Center researchers have published more than 35 papers on heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome in regional groups. For example, studies have investigated causes of cardiovascular disease in Native Hawaiians, strategies for increasing consumption of bitter melon to improve diabetes maintenance, and risk factors associated with methamphetamine use and heart failure in Pacific Islanders.
Faith in Action Research Alliance: Reducing Diabetes among Pacific Islanders
A partnership between the University of Iowa, the Pacific Chronic Disease Coalition, and faith coalitions from Hawaii and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, this exploratory project incorporates Pacific culture into diabetes prevention and management. It is the first Pacific study to examine the integration of culture, religion, family, and diabetes. The ultimate goal is to create a nationwide model for the design of future diabetes interventions.
Improving the Health of Cambodian American Women: A CBPR Approach
In this community-based participatory research project, the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation and community-based organizations in Oakland are implementing a program to reduce substance abuse among local Cambodian American women. The project also seeks to build the Cambodian American community's ability to assess and respond to its health issues. Initial research identified violence (both domestic and in neighborhoods), isolation, and lack of income as the main stressors faced by Cambodian women; plans are also underway to create a community garden.
Liver Cancer Control Interventions for Asian Americans
Current data indicate that hepatitis-B related liver cancer is the most drastic cancer health disparity affecting Asian Americans, with rates in some sub-populations as high as 10 times those for white Americans. In this collaborative P01 grant co-funded by the National Cancer Institute, University of California, Davis researchers are creating initiatives for three Asian sub-populations. These efforts include a media campaign to increase hepatitis B screening in Vietnamese adults, community-based hepatitis B interventions for Hmong adults, and hepatitis B screening for Korean church attendees.
NYU Center for the Study of Asian American Health
This Center of Excellence at New York University takes an interdisciplinary and community-based approach to eliminating Asian American health disparities. Researchers at the center have published studies on mixed methods approaches to diabetes prevention in New York Bangladeshi communities, tested interpreter training as a way to reduce clinical errors in cancer education, and developed a simulation which showed that early treatment of hepatitis B can reduce both death rates and treatment costs.
