AAPI Nexus: Policy, Practice and Community

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing challenges Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) face in accessing healthcare: language access, barriers for immigrant populations, lack of data disaggregation, and lack of community resources. AAPIs also have increased vulnerability to COVID-19 due to higher representation in specific labor sectors. These challenges take place in the context of increasing anti-Asian hate and xenophobia. This article focuses on one organization addressing these challenges: the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF). We will describe how APIAHF is using narrative change, structural change, and community change to address pandemic-related emergent and longer-term needs and how funding structures and critical partnerships with a variety of stakeholders support these efforts.