The attacks, which ranges from schoolyard bullying, public harassment to beatings and deadly shootings, are borne out of ignorance and the racism simmering under the veneer of civility that used to be expected in US society. The hateful assaults spurred the AANHPI -- the fastest growing ethnic group in California and the nation -- into a flurry of action shattering the stereotypes assigned to them by American society and revealed that the so-called "model minority" was not as successful as believed.
Some of actions on multiple fronts that manifested in a willingness by AANHPIs to break their traditional reticence of bringing attention to themselves. As a result of the combined actions of declarations from public figures, demonstrations and increased political activities, AANHPIs were successful in grabbing the attention of media, educators, researchers, politicians, service providers and even the entertainment industry.
In the field of health, one study funded by a $10 million grant from the State of California to AAPI Data, in partnership with the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, is a groundbreaking study that highlights disparities in the access and utilization of health, mental health and social services by Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities, which totals about 6.5 million residents making up about 15.5% of the population, according to the 2020 Census.
Some highlights of the study:
- Asians, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders were slightly less likely to be enrolled in public programs such as CalFresh, Medicare and Medi-Cal compared to other racial and ethnic groups. Enrollment among detailed Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander groups showed wider variation, including much larger gaps among groups such as Indians, Japanese and Taiwanese.
- Asians, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders were less likely than whites to have a usual source of care, have visited a doctor in the last 12 months, and be able to schedule a doctor’s appointment in a timely manner.
- While Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities reported the lowest rates of suicide ideation overall, disaggregated data reveal Japanese, Korean and U.S.-born Asians are more likely to have said they had ever thought of committing suicide.
- Among those who reported needing help for emotional, mental or addiction problems in the past year, Asians, along with Blacks and Hispanics, were significantly less likely to receive needed mental, emotional or addiction treatment than whites. Disaggregated data for Asians show similar challenges in accessing mental health services, especially for Vietnamese.
“As you can see in this comprehensive report, the more we break down the data by subgroups, the more apparent the differences and vulnerabilities become. We hope this report can help inform better decision-making and policies,” said Ninez A. Ponce, PhD, MPP, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, principal investigator of CHIS, and senior researcher at AAPI Data.
FYI: Read the entire report: "The Health, Mental Health, and Social Services Needs of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in California."
"High-quality data is the first step and the foundation to achieving health equity. We are proud to partner with AAPI Data on this report that highlights the unique health challenges and needs of Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities, who for so long have been grouped together,” Ponce added.
Other findings of the study are:
● Asian, Black and Hispanic women were less likely than white women to use birth control. Asian teens were significantly less likely to have received counseling about birth control in the past year.
● While Asians, in general, were less likely to report non-consensual sex or sexual assault in the survey, Japanese and Koreans were more likely to report it than Asians in general, with Japanese reporting at the highest rate among the groups surveyed.
● With Universal Pre-K set as a goal for the 2025–2026 school year in California, a snapshot of ACS data shows which communities have existing gaps in preschool enrollment. Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander children were among the least likely of all Californian children to be enrolled in Pre-K. Disaggregated Asian data also show that less than half of Laotian, Filipino, Pakistani, Cambodian and Hmong preschool-aged children were enrolled in a pre-K program.
● While Asians in general were less likely to provide care to family or friends with a disability or serious illness than members of other major racial and ethnic groups, Japanese, Filipinos and Vietnamese were much more likely to be caregivers.
● Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander caregivers were more likely to cite financial stress from caregiving.
● While Asians in general reported relatively low levels of physical and mental health problems due to caregiving, Koreans and South Asians were significantly more likely to report those problems compared to all Asians.
Researchers also found that the shortage of physicians in the Inland Empire, where Filipino Americans made up the largest Asian group, shows up in the survey in the lower percentage of people who were able to get timely medical appointments. Asians have been disproportionately impacted by the shortage, compared to the same measures at the statewide level cited above. Asians in the Inland Empire also were much less likely to get a timely appointment than Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites in the Inland Empire.
The data showed that only 62% of Asians in the Inland Empire, defined as that area east of Los Angeles centering around the metro areas of Riverside and San Bernardino, were able to get an appointment in a timely way (defined as within two days). In the other five regions of California, 83% or more of Asians were able to get an appointment in a timely way.
A side result of the survey, demographic findings revealed that Filipino Americans were the largest Asian group in the Inland Empire and Samoans and Chamorros were the two largest NHPI groups in the Inland Empire. Chinese and Filipino Americans were the largest share of the Asian child population in the Inland Empire.
Recommendations
The report also outlines several recommendations for action to address equity in health and social services for Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities in California. The recommendations include:
“This new report reveals many disparities in the delivery and allocation of social services and points to the need for the AA and NHPI communities to be an active part of the political decision-making process,” noted Alex Tom, executive director of Center for Empowered Politics. “This report gives civic engagement organizations vital disaggregated data that will strengthen our capacity to articulate the issues and challenges that the AA and NHPI electorates face."
● Investing in centralized sharing of limited culturally competent mental health resources and expanding capacity.
● Supporting families and caregivers with in-language support to address financial, physical and mental hardships associated with caregiving.
● Improve awareness and access to public and government programs to address underutilization.
● Invest in increasing language access capacity by creating job opportunities for multilingual immigrants to become certified interpreters.
● Increase opportunities for government partnerships with community-based organizations to leverage their trusted voices to get the word out about new initiatives or public health information.
● Implement and expand data disaggregation efforts to create more timely and accurate data on Asian American and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities to better implement new policies and programs.
AANHPIs are among the fastest growing racial groups in California and nationwide. In response to the wave of anti-Asian attacks, California passed the API Equity Budget in 2021 that included a three-year investment of over $166 million to better serve communities experiencing hate and barriers to various government services. The award to AAPI Data was part of the first year's expenditure of the Equity Budget.
“Good, disaggregated data is essential to ensure that state and local government agencies understand and address the needs of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities,” noted California State Senator Richard Pan, MD, Chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus. “We look forward to more actionable reports from AAPI Data and the California Health Interview Survey, with fresh data collections that shed light on AANHPI mental health needs and experiences with discrimination in various forms.”
DITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.
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