Debunking the “Model Minority” Myth
May 24, 2010
Deaths from breast cancer are four times higher among some Asian-born women in the United States than among their U.S.-born counterparts. Rates of vaccine-preventable liver and cervical cancer among the Hmong in California are three to four times higher than those of other Asian American groups. Some Pacific Islander-Americans have among the highest rates of pre-term births, with one-in-five mothers delivering pre-term.
These are just a few of the findings included in the May issue of the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH). In this first-ever issue of a major public health journal devoted to Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations, an array of new research highlights alarming disparities.
Also this month, policymakers, researchers, and public health leaders came together to discuss both these disparities and solutions to close the gaps at an event sponsored by the The Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF, a Burness client), the American Public Health Association and the Kellogg Foundation (also a Burness client). Speakers included U.S. Representatives Judy Chu and Mike Honda, Assistant Secretary for Health at HHS, Dr. Howard Koh, and other administration officials and journal authors. Full video from the event is available here.
A short video of author Scarlett Lin Gomez accompanies this post. In it, she tells the story of her grandmother’s tragic death and how it inspired her to research the differences in breast cancer incidence between Asian American ethnic groups.
