Promoting Health among Vietnamese Americans: Challenges and successes

Vietnamese Americans are the second fastest growing Asian group in the US, with a population over 1.25 million. Most of them (70%) are foreign-born, and 55% have limited English proficiency. They have low educational attainment, high unemployment, and higher rates of poverty than non-Hispanic whites. There is a lack of reliable national data on Vietnamese American health in terms of disease-specific morbidity and mortality but what little data exist indicate that they have marked health disparities in certain cancer prevalence, chronic diseases and their screening compared to non-Hispanic whites. There are extremely high rates of cigarette smoking among Vietnamese American men. They also have low rates of regular exercise. They also have psychosocial and mental health issues because of country of origin, wartime experiences and immigration related issues.

More recent studies have confirmed that the major barriers to health are limited access, lack of knowledge, and impaired communication. Studies have shown that, when delivered in a culturally tailored manner, health promotion interventions such as media, lay health worker outreach, community outreach, and continuing physician education have led to increase in knowledge and positive changes in health behaviors in a variety of topics. As in many immigrant cultures, capacity exists within the Vietnamese American community to promote healthy behaviors. With adequate resources, they can address many of the personal, cultural, and systematic barriers that prevent them from achieving health.