South Asian Communities
Explore Health Issues
Los Angeles, CA: Over
75 community leaders, researchers, students and health professionals
convened at the University of Southern California on March
26, 2005 for the first Health of South Asians Conference.
Entitled “Bridging Communities for Better Health,”
the conference focused on identifying health trends, disparities,
and outreach efforts in the diverse South Asian communities.
Glimpses of the conference |
“South Asians
are so often either underrepresented or misrepresented when
it comes to health data that we felt it was important to
start a dialogue amongst the community itself to better
educate ourselves and to promote the research that is going
on about our communities,” said Sumun Pendakur, Assistant
Director for the USC Asian Pacific American Student Services
(APASS) and one of the key organizers of the conference.
“The diversity of South Asians poses significant issues
because of the differences in economic and immigrant status,
diet, and lifestyles. Yet, there are some issues that seem
to be relevant to all South Asians.”
The conference was sponsored by a number of community and
student organizations and USC departments. Included among
these were the South Asian Network, the South Asian Public
Health Association, the South Asian Health Association,
and the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information
Service at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. Also
sponsoring the event were USC Civic and Community Relations,
USC Keck School of Medicine, Office of Diversity, USC Institute
for Preventive Research (IPR), The India Restaurant, Bhindi
Jewelers, and Haldiram’s. The conference was intended
to spark conversations in various sectors of the community
about health and to drive additional research and educational
programs.
Keynoting the conference was a presentation by Dr. Roshan
Bastani, Associate Dean for Research at UCLA’s School
of Public Health. Dr. Bastani spoke about the fact that
South Asians are largely “missing in action”
when it comes to research and health prevention work. She
emphasized the need for communities to organize and work
with experts and researchers as imperative to address the
disparities in health care.
Also present were Neelam Gupta, Assistant Director of LA
Health Action, and Dan Ichinose, Project Director for the
Demographic Research Unit of the Asian Pacific American
Legal Center, who spooke on the diversity and demographics
of the South Asian community in Los Angeles.
Arnab Mukherjea, the Co-Chair of the South Asian Public
Health Association, a national advocacy group, stated that
the top health issues affecting South Asians are heart disease,
diabetes and cancer. Mukherjea addressed the extremely high
use of smokeless tobacco products such as zarda, gutka,
and pan masala among South Asians in Los Angeles. According
to Dr. Beth Glenn, Researcher at the UCLA Division of Cancer
Prevention and Control Research, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer
Center, and Punam Parikh, formerly with South Asian Network,
49% of males and 21% of women in a sample used smokeless
tobacco products, which are a risk factor for mouth cancer
and heart disease, among other diseases. However, according
to Dr. William McCarthy, Associate Professor of Public Health
at UCLA and the Principal Investigator for the California
Asian Indian Tobacco Survey, smoking rates among Asian Indians
in California were some of the lowest in the country, making
the community a public health model for the country when
it comes to tobacco use.
Another speaker, Dr. Dennis Deapen, Director of the LA County
Cancer Surveillance Unit at the USC Norris Comprehensive
Cancer Center, reported that the top female cancer continues
to be breast cancer and for men, prostate cancer. He stressed
that while the rates were lower than many other communities,
as communities acculturate and “become more American,”
their incidence rates increase, so prevention efforts and
screening are key for any prevention strategy.
The afternoon session was on “Community Best Practices”
and was moderated by Zul Surani from NCI’s Cancer
Information Service at USC Norris. Surani, a long time community
health activist and board member of SAN and Saath, chose
to highlight programs throughout the country that were effective
in educating, screening, and improving awareness and that
are available to partner with other community organizations
who reach people at risk. Geetha Veliah, from Community
Health Action Initiative (CHAI), is creating a national
model for prevention work in South Asian communities and
has already reached thousands with important health messages
on cancer, heart disease and diabetes in a variety of South
Asian languages. Dr. Nitin Shah, from the Jain Center of
Southern California, shared his strategies in creating health
fairs to highlight breast and cervical cancer. Dipa Shah,
from the LA Nutrition Network, shared the success of Project
Dil in pushing an agenda of nutrition and health living.
Sheela Mehta, a social worker from South Asian Helpline
and Referral Agency (SAHARA), talked on preventing domestic
violence in South Asian families, effective support groups,
and their newly acquired shelter providing comprehensive
programs to assist victims of domestic violence, a major
issue in South Asian communities according to a variety
of sources.
To close the day, Hamid Khan, Executive Director of South
Asian Network, called upon the communities to put their
differences aside and work together to overcome major health
problems faced by our communities by advocating and participating
in civic life.
“It is our hope that academic-community partnerships,
including internships and joint-research projects, will
be by-products of the conference. The planners of the conference
will try to create support for new initiatives in these
areas,” said Zul Surani, Partnership Program Coordinator
at USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
Organizations and persons interested in the conference or
who would like to become more involved in the ongoing efforts
in this area are encouraged to contact Zul Surani at zsurani@usc.edu
or at 626-457-4267.
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