Building community coalitions to reduce health disparities in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities

According to an Asian American Health Needs Assessment conducted in 2005 in Houston, approximately 20 percent of the local Chinese population and 30 percent of the Vietnamese lack health insurance. Publicly funded services are difficult to acquire and present multiple hurdles. The Houston Asian American Health Collaborative (AAHC) was established with the mission to reduce health disparities of vulnerable Asian Americans (AAs) and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders (NHPIs) in Houston in a coordinated way by strengthening the capacity of local AA community-based organizations. While capitalizing on local assets AAHC aimed to build its capacity to empower member organizations and the local AA community to proactively address health disparities and positively impact policy and systems change; reduce health disparities related to cancer and other chronic diseases prevalent among Houston’s AA population; and affect policy and systems change locally and at a broader level

Cancer burden for AAs and NHPIs of Houston was reduced by increasing access for the AA and NHPI populations to cancer prevention, intervention, and coordinated referrals; disseminating knowledge and findings among local stakeholders and nationally; empowering community and collaborative organizations to engage in policy and systems change efforts; and strengthening and ensuring long-term successes and viability of collaborative. Other activities included providing outreach and promoting cancer screening activities, which included utilizing social media and collaborating with other organizations and developing an evidence-based cancer prevention work plan to collectively address cancer burden and disparities in the AA and NHPI communities. The joint collaborative efforts of providing cancer prevention education while offering cancer screening services is a unique opportunity that AAHC hopes to build as part of an evidence-based plan. In addition, capacities have been built within other organizations and professionals in that they will continue to become more aware of the importance of cancer education and screening activities.