To try and shed some light on the health care issues facing the fast-growing Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) populations, the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) has partnered with the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved for a supplement issue called “Shining the Light on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Health.”
“The health and health care issues faced by AAs and NHPIs across the U.S., its territories, and freely associated states are critically important not just to the communities impacted, but the entire nation,” said Winston Tseng, Research Sociologist and Lecturer, Division of Community Health and Human Development, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, and Senior Research Associate for the APIAHF. “The Journal comes at an opportune time as local jurisdictions, states and federal policymakers and communities try to meet the needs of an incredibly diverse and growing demographic.”
“The consistent theme underlying the research and field reports is health equity—which requires valuing everyone equally and harnessing efforts to address avoidable inequalities, historical and contemporary injustices, and eliminating health and health care disparities,” added Simona C. Kwon, Assistant Professor, Department of Population Health, NYU School of Medicine, and Director of the NYU Center for the Study of Asian American Health. “This scholarship sheds light on that and offers real solutions to some of our most pressing health needs.”
The journal, published by The Johns Hopkins University Press, devoted a supplement to its May 2015 issue (Volume 26, Number 2) to new community initiatives focused on tackling health challenges within AA and NHPI communities. Winston Tseng, Beverly J. Gor, Joseph Keawe‘aimoku Kaholokula, Simona C. Kwon, and Sela Panapasa served as guest editors.
JHCPU, edited by Meharry Medical College Associate Professor Virginia Brennan, MD, Ph.D., focuses on contemporary health care issues of medically underserved communities and is the official journal of the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved (ACU).
The issue features a tribute to former United States Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Howard Koh, an examination of the importance of public-private partnerships for advancing health equity, along with essays and “reports from the field” on specific populations including immigrants, indigenous populations, and children, and health issues including: obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, suicide, depression, cancer screening, costs of health care, occupational health, and community health workers.
The APIAHF will sponsor a briefing from 9 to 11 a.m. on June 10 in Washington, D.C., to discuss the journal issue in greater depth, with a focus on childhood obesity. This special issue was supported by the APIAHF, NYU Center for the Study of Asian American Health, Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations, Temple University Center for Asian Health, and Asian American Research Center on Health.
About The Johns Hopkins University Press
Founded in 1878, The Johns Hopkins University Press, recognized as one of the world’s finest and most accomplished scholarly publishers, publishes over 80 scholarly periodicals and more than 200 new books each year.
About The Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum
Founded in 1986, the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) influences policy, mobilizes communities, and strengthens programs and organizations to improve the health of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.