Grassroots AAPI Advocacy: Closing the Health Equity Gap

By Stephanie Shen

When discussing racial equity issues, it is well known that overt racism, like hate speech and hate crimes, directly negatively impacts the well-being of the racial diaspora that is targeted. However, what is often less discussed are the many implicit and insidious ways that continuous exposure to racism influence long-term negative outcomes. For example, Asian Americans are 60% less likely than non-Hispanic whites (1) to receive mental health treatment. Vietnamese Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Native Hawaiians are nearly three times less likely than white Americans (2) to reach out to mental health services when they need it. Southeast Asians are forced to independently pave their own way (3) to solving mental health issues due to their inability to find culturally informed healthcare providers. The barrier to accessing mental health care permeates into physical health as well. Moreover, the National Library of Medicine found that 57% of women from Cambodia (4) reported challenges in finding suitable medical care in the U.S. due to a lack of interpreters.

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