Despite gaps in data about health trends for Asians and Pacific Islanders
(A&PIs), our growing needs as a community must be addressed.
Making up almost 1/3rd of the entire Bay Area population, A&PIs are of many
different ethnicities, cultures, and speak various languages. As a result, A&PIs
have unique and diverse healthcare concerns.
Health programs for A&PI populations are very limited. Most do not address specific cultural norms affecting different health conditions for each A&PI ethnic community.
Chinese, Filipinos, and Vietnamese make up the majority of San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara county A&PIs. Many are immigrants (˜ 60%) and are vulnerable to health risks due to lack of health insurance, low income, language barriers, low levels of education, and the inaccessibility of health & social services.
Project 333 seeks to work with these Asian ethnic groups to address their needs for preventing Hepatitis, HIV/AIDS and substance use.
A&PIs contract HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, and experience substance abuse problems. Available data show that Filipinos, Vietnamese, and Chinese communities are impacted most.
Substance Abuse
• A national study survey of A&PIs showed as many as 22% use illicit
drugs, and as many as 36% report drinking alcohol
• In the San Francisco peninsula, the drugs of choice among A&PIs
are methamphetamine, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana
Hepatitis
• Almost 12 million A&PIs in the United States live with chronic Hepatitis
B or C
• In a study by the San Francisco Public Health Department, Hepatitis
C makes up as much as 26% of all hepatitis cases among A&PIs, with similar
numbers of cases among men and women
• A&PIs have the highest rate of Hepatitis B infection for all races
• In the Bay Area, 1 in 10 A&PIs are infected with Hepatitis B
HIV/AIDS
• HIV infection among A&PI communities is underreported, as A&PIs
are not categorized consistently by ethnicity
• A&PIs tend to use HIV health services less than other racial groups
due to cultural values of the family’s reputation, shame, denial, and
for some—fear of immigration status
HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, and substance use are related to specific behaviors which put individuals at high risk for being infected. Recognizing these behaviors and changing them is critical in keeping members of our communities healthy.
• A&PIs are contracting and transmitting HIV & Hepatitis primarily
through high-risk heterosexual contact, high-risk male-to-male sexual contact,
and injection drug use
• Men who have sex with men, individuals who use illicit substances, and
those paroled or on probation are particularly vulnerable
• Engaging in the following high-risk activities, in addition to other
behaviors, increases one’s likelihood of becoming infected or transmitting
the diseases to others:
o Having sex without a condom with someone who maybe infected with HIV or Hepatitis C
o Having multiple partners with unknown infection status
o Sharing needles with someone who maybe infected