Testimony to the White House Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
January 25, 2005
Submitted by: Ho Tran, MD, MPH
President & CEO
Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum
Good morning distinguished members of the Commission. I am Ho Luong Tran, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum . We are a national policy advocacy organization whose mission is to enable Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to attain the highest level of health and well-being.
I thank you for allotting the time for me to testify on the health status and issues of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. I want to extend my congratulations to you on your appointments, and especially to Mr. Rudy Pamintuan and Jimmy Lee from Illinois , as I myself am from Chicago .
The Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum have been intimately involved with the Commission since before its inception in 1999. We have testified on the health and well-being of AAPIs before the previous two commissions and have helped draft both reports.
Distinguished members of the Commission,
The works of the previous commissions have identified the needs of our diverse communities and expressed recommendations. Under your leadership you will ensure that these needs be fulfilled, recommendations implemented, and although focusing on community and economic development, you will still touch on issues related to health, education, immigration and others that profoundly impact our communities.
In the second Commission report health status and health disparities were identified as issues of importance for our communities. One of our guiding philosophies is to represent the community needs through listening to the voices of its residents. In our almost 20 years of existence, they tell us that cardio vascular diseases, including stroke, chronic diseases such as diabetes, the rising rates of cancer, hepatitis B infection, and tuberculosis are some of the diseases that impact them profoundly. They also tell us that stigma and shame prevent our communities to acknowledge domestic violence or AIDS, the high suicide rates among our elderly women and youth or mental health.
Findings also showed that other barriers hamper Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders accessing the much needed health care services such as cultural and linguistic. Without communication between health care providers and AAPIs, as someone has quoted, the care that they receive is comparable to veterinary care.
The Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are two extremely diverse populations with different cultures and languages spoken. When disaggregating the data each population presents a specific need different from each other.
We helped the last commission document these needs in their Health Report. However, we also expressed that this report should not be another comprehensive one on AAPI health, but outlining specific recommendations and action steps. As former commissioner Dr. Lupo Carlotta put it, we need recommendations that are “implementable.”
The work of the previous commission still remains unfinished. I suggest you lead the commission with concrete results, making the previous Commission report’s recommendations live. While you are gathering data on the AAPI community and economic development needs, you can also gather data on the progress on recommendations made of the previous report, which are very much on health.
Our organization is here for you. We have been involved from the beginning and because of our commitment to our community, we will stay involved. We invite you to call us, utilize us as a resource.
Thank you.
