AAPI Nexus: Policy, Practice and Community

Despite scientific advances that documents race and ethnicity as critical factors associated with inequities in health and health care quality, the general political climate has the potential to undermine efforts to improve the quality of life for people in diverse communities. We call for more creative research programs on health issues in Asian American communities to move beyond prevalence and risk factors toward investigating the mechanisms and processes that produce illness and lead to poor quality of health. We emphasize a compelling need to revisit traditional and accepted findings to determine their appropriateness for Asian American communities. We also suggested that as we establish the mechanisms that link social factors and health, we must also place them within the appropriate historical and cultural contexts that are essential for the health of people in their communities.