Biden-Harris Administration addressing mental health needs of AANHPI communities

(Illustration by Brittany England)

A major focus of last month's historic mental health summit at the White House, was the Biden-Harris Administration's commitment to  improving equity and access to behavioral health care for AA and NHPI communities.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising anti-Asian hate, and the twin public health and public safety epidemic of gun violence, AA and NHPI communities have been deeply impacted by the nation’s mental health crisis. And the task of expanding access to quality and culturally competent medical, including mental health services for AA and NHPI individuals has only grown more urgent. 

In 2020, suicide was the leading cause of death among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, ages 10 to 19, and the second leading cause of death among those ages 20-34. And AA and NHPIs currently face unique barriers to behavioral health care, including:

• Language barriers, which can make it difficult for AA and NHPIs to access behavioral health services;

• Stigmatization and negative cultural conceptualizations of behavioral health within AA and NHPI communities, which can reduce help-seeking;

• A perceived lower need of mental health care among AA and NHPIs compared to other racial and ethnic groups;

• A shortage of clinicians with diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds; and

• The lack of culturally competent providers to meet cultural, social, and language-related needs

The White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) hosted the historic summit in recognition of National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, building on the Administration’s unprecedented investments to connect more Americans to care.

Through the President’s Mental Health Strategy and other initiatives, the Biden-Harris Administration is leading a whole-of-society approach to transform behavioral health services and bolster support, particularly for underserved communities, including AA and NHPI communities. 

Over the past two years, federal agencies have worked to eliminate barriers to care; expand the full continuum of prevention, treatment, and recovery services; and prioritize integration of these services into settings where they can be more easily accessed.

Federal agencies have directed funding to agencies focusing in erasing the gap in mental health care delivery and care. Some of the programs, which range from combating human trafficking, disaggregating data of the diverse AANHIPI communities and fighting hate crimes,  include:

•  A 5-year grant for $700,000 per year to the Hawaii State Department of Health to establish the first ever Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Behavioral Health Center of Excellence (AANHPI-CoE) to advance behavioral health equity for AA and NHPI communities.

• The National Network to Eliminate Disparities in Behavioral Health (NNED), a network of more than 1,500 community-based organizations serving underserved communities across the U.S., including AA and NHPI populations, focused on the mental health and substance use issues facing diverse racial and ethnic communities. 

• $1 million in September 2022, through a cooperative agreement to Pouhana O Na Wahine, to serve as FVPSA’s national technical assistance provider for the Native Hawaiian communities and to establish the first ever Native Hawaiian Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NHRCDV).

• The Interagency Island Affairs Council. Launched in 2022, this council convenes federal leaders to identify, coordinate, and advance funding, programmatic, and policy issues to improve health equity in the U.S. Territories and Freely Associated States. CDC also funds the Pacific Island Health Officers Association, which trains the next generation of public health leaders through its Pacific Public Health Fellowship Program. A National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking which calls for HHS to provide training and technical assistance for health and human service professionals working with populations at high risk for human trafficking and intersecting with NHPI community programs.

• HHS’s Office of Minority Health is the lead response agency for the Memorandum Condemning and Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States. HHS and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) jointly issued guidance in May 2022 aimed at raising awareness of hate crimes and incidents committed on the basis of personal or group characteristics. 

FYI: For a more complete listing of agencies and actions of the Biden-Harris administration promoting health care access by the AANHPI communities. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.