AAPI Nexus: Policy, Practice and Community

Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) have some of the fastest-growing rates of obesity of all ethnic groups (Harrison et al., 2005). Preventing childhood obesity among AANHPIs is a challenge constrained by resource and research gaps. These include the lack of national prevalence data, insufficient funding support, limited knowledge of risk factors associated with childhood obesity, particularly in these populations, and the lack of programmatic evaluations. The finding of this literature review shows that only 0.11 percent of PubMed articles on childhood obesity focused on AANHPIs. Recommendations to advance what is known about AANHPI and childhood obesity include targeting community prevalence studies, community needs assessments, risk factor studies, and program evaluations; training and mentoring junior researchers; and creating a national clearing-house to compile research literature and evidence-based practices.