January 29, 2003
Dear Friend,
As 2003 commences, it is my pleasure to write to you with best wishes for the upcoming Lunar New Year. May the Year of the Goat bring good health and security to you and your family, and may all your dreams and aspirations be fulfilled.
As the new President and CEO of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself, give you an update on the Health Forum’s many accomplishments, and share with you its vision for the future.
In October of last year, I joined the Health Forum after serving as Special Assistant for Asian Affairs at the Center for Minority Health, Illinois Department of Public Health. I am currently an appointed member of the National Advisory Committee on Minority Health of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. I hold a medical degree and a master’s degree in Public Health and have worked in the field of public health and advocacy for the last 15 years. I bring to the Health Forum a wealth of experience and a fresh perspective to its national platform.
The Health Forum has gained national stature as a strong advocate for the advancement of Asian Americans’ and Pacific Islanders’ (AAPI) health. Through collaboration with communities and advocacy organizations, and by forging strong relations with policymakers, it has played a key leadership role in formulating the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Those efforts resulted in Executive Order 13216, aimed at improving the quality of life for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The Health Forum was also influential in getting federal government agencies to issue policy guidelines to ensure equal access for limited English proficient Americans. The signing of Executive Order 13166 then ensued.
Through the efforts of the Health Forum, gaps in the data on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the Healthy People 2010 Initiative of the Department of Health and Human Services were brought to the attention of the Department. The Health Forum successfully advocated for the restoration of health benefits for those impacted by the 1996 Welfare and Immigration Reforms, as well as for the enforcement of cultural competency and linguistic proficiency standards in the government regulation of health care service programs.
The Health Forum houses the Asian and Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence, which seeks to increase awareness of the extent and depth of domestic violence; to make culturally specific issues visible; to inform prevention, intervention, research, and public policy; and to deepen analysis on issues surrounding violence against women.
Recognizing the negative impact of smoking among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the Health Forum’s Asian and Pacific Islander Tobacco Education Network Program advocates for tobacco-free communities, seeks to reduce the risk factors that contribute to high levels of smoking, leads campaigns for tobacco-free policies, and disseminates information on the harmful effects of smoking. Attention is also focused on addressing the needs and minimizing the burdens facing cancer survivors and their families.
Another program, the Asian & Pacific Islander HIV Capacity-Building Assistance Program, offers technical assistance on program development, community mobilization, and planning and technology to community-based organizations and other agencies whose HIV programs work with Asians Americans and Pacific Islanders.
As the first recognized national census information center for Asian and Pacific Islander populations, the Health Forum provides demographic data to organizations that serve Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders throughout the nation. And, last, but not least, an Internet based network provides current, updated health information, policies, and resources.
As it enters its next phase, the Health Forum seeks to ensure that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, as well as the Health Forum itself, have a seat at all decision-making levels to advance the health and well being of AAPIs. In collaboration with AAPI community stakeholders and allies, the Health Forum will shape a progressive AAPI health agenda, which will advocate for more services to underserved AAPI’s and that these services are culturally appropriate and linguistically fit. Developing AAPIs as progressive, effective health leaders and advocates will be yet another strategy. Ultimately, the Health Forum mission is to enable AAPIs to attain, as their fundamental right, the highest possible level of health and well being.
Year 2003 marks a new era for the Health Forum. With the office move in March to a new location, 450 Sutter Street, San Francisco, with new leadership, a dynamic staff, a committed Board of Directors, numerous supporters, allies and collaborators, the Health Forum is urging you to please join in its progressive movement to bring that much needed good health and well being to AAPIs.
You can help us achieve our goals in many ways. You can become a member. Your membership contribution will help maintain our website to be current with the latest information on Asian Health issues and policies. You can be a benefactor. Your monetary donation will help keep open our multifaceted capacity-building and policy/advocacy activities. You can be a sponsor. Your sponsorship will help maintain our Washington, D.C. office so that our governmental liaison staff can be current and take timely action on health policy and advocacy issues. Call and speak to one of our program staff or visit the Health Forum website at www.apiahf.org to learn more about the organization and health data/status of AAPIs through our many health briefs and various program websites.
Once again, at this special time of the year, the Board of Directors and staff of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum join me in wishing you a prosperous and healthful New Year. I hope that you will consider joining us with your financial support to ensure that this important work on behalf of all Asians and Pacific Islanders will continue.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ho L. Tran, M.D., M.P.H.
