Filipino American Health Summit: Bridging Science and Practice

Special Service For Groups, Inc., Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The first ever Filipino American Health Summit: Bridging Science and Practice is planned by a groundbreaking collaboration of key representatives from healthcare, research and community sectors. The summit aims to share research on diseases disproportionately affecting Filipino American communities, as well as to build partnerships among the sectors to address these health disparities on a community level. The main objectives of the summit are: " To bring together key representatives from the healthcare, research and community sectors and forge collaborations in order to create coordinated systems to address diseases disproportionately affecting Filipino Americans " To summarize and cultivate a comprehensive understanding of the current clinical, epidemiological and behavioral research on health disparities prevalent in Filipino American communities " To identify factors that are influencing the high rates of these diseases among Filipinos " To design viable community-based strategies focused on early detection and prevention, where medical practitioners, researchers and community members can collaboratively address these health disparities The conference will consist of plenary and break-out sessions held over the course of two days. Morning sessions will be didactic;focusing on diseases and/or conditions disproportionately affecting Filipino Americans. Topics to be covered during the summit include: hypertension, cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, occupation and health, and health disparities among Filipino youth. Afternoon break-out sessions will allow for interdisciplinary group discussions on the diseases affecting Filipino Americans. Healthcare providers, researchers and community members will collaboratively design community-based strategies that focus on both prevention and treatment-formulating a holistic approach to addressing the health disparities experienced by Filipino Americans, and aligning with Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team's mission to positively affect the quality of life for Asian and Pacific Islanders. The aim is not only for participants to maintain the relationships formed between sectors during the summit, but for them to also continue to partner on community-based efforts. Relevance: Although health data for Asian and Pacific Islanders (APIs) are usually aggregated- which tends to suggest that this population overall is one of the healthiest in the US-studies have demonstrated that there is enormous diversity among API ethnic groups, specifically that there are diseases which disproportionately affect Filipino Americans (i.e. hypertension, cancer, type 2 diabetes). Filipino Americans are the second largest API group in the US and make up a large proportion of the American healthcare industry, but there has been no coordinated effort to link healthcare providers with researchers and community members to address the health disparities experienced by Filipino Americans-physicians tend to remain separate and unengaged with community-based efforts. The Filipino American Health Summit will, thus, be the first event to bring together and build linkages between medical practitioners, researchers and community leaders as well as to present current research and identify factors that are influencing the high rates of these diseases among Filipino Americans.