HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS has been reported in virtually every racial and ethnic population, every age group, and every socioeconomic group in every state and most large cities in the US. HIV/AIDS remains a significant cause of illness, disability, and death in the US, despite declines in 1996 and 1997 (US DHHS 2000). AAPIs are as susceptible to HIV/AIDS as are other racial or ethnic groups. Although the number of reported AIDS cases among AAPIs remains small (less than 1% of total cases reported in the US), lack of detailed HIV surveillance, underreporting, and misclassification often mask the true impact of the HIV epidemic on AAPIs (Wortley et al. 2000; CDC 2001).
Mental Health
Often, AAPIs have a culturally negative view of mental illness, drug abuse, and other less apparent stress-related conditions. This may make early identification, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders difficult. These factors, combined with fear of shame and stigma, reinforce the denial of problems (Orlandi 1995). Sometimes a patient's denial of illness is associated with economic factors, such as the need to keep working, or with social factors, such as the reluctance to ask for help (Chin and Bigby 2003). Be alert to the fact that AAPIs frequently somatize their problems, preferring to seek help from their primary care physicians rather than from a mental health clinician.
| AAPI girls have the highest suicide rate for females between the ages of 15 and 24, and 30% of Asian American girls in grades 5 through 12 reported symptoms of depression (Georgetown University 2002). In addition, Southeast Asians have high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder related to experiencing war in their home countries and living in refugee camps. |
Lactose Intolerance
Because 90% of Asian Americans are lactose intolerant, the absence of dairy products is believed to result in a low intake of calcium among AAPIs (Kaiser Permanente 1999). Asian women are at high risk of osteoporosis.
< prev | next >
|
