Santa Clara County to Undertake Asian Health Assessment
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SAN JOSE – The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors approved a major new health assessment of the County's Asian residents, at the urging of County Supervisor Joe Simitian. Designed to guide future public health programs, this will be the first in-depth study of the specific risks, diseases, disparities, and other important factors affecting the health of groups that make up over a third of the County's population.
"This assessment is an investment in the health of Santa Clara County's Asian residents – over a half-million people," said Simitian, who co-authored the Board's action with Supervisor Dave Cortese. "It's also an investment in our own public health programs. The data we get from this process will help the County Public Health Department do its job more effectively."
The new Asian Health Assessment is designed to provide detailed insights into the behavioral health risks, disparities, and chronic diseases that affect the major Asian subgroups in Santa Clara County. It will build on the success of the County's 2011 Vietnamese Health Assessment, as well as similar prior studies conducted among the County's Latino, LGBTQ, and African American populations. The data from the assessment will help the County and its nonprofit partners target the highest-priority health issues facing Asian residents and design more effective messages to reach those residents.
"The Asian community in Santa Clara County is rich in its diversity," said Michele Lew, President and CEO of Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI), a nonprofit health and social services provider based in San Jose. "The County's assessment of the different needs of Asian subgroups will help us target our services, make more efficient use of our resources, and improve the health and wellness of County residents."
The Asian Health Assessment will begin this year with a broad review of existing health data by the Public Health Department's Epidemiology and Data Management Unit. The Department will then supplement this existing data with a phone survey currently scheduled to begin next winter.
Simitian noted that, “Health disparities between and among various groups are real.” For example, Asians are at a higher risk for hepatitis B, South Asians are at a higher risk for heart disease, and Asian women are more likely to have dense breast tissue, which reduces the utility of mammography as a screening tool.
"One size doesn't fit all in a diverse county like ours," said Simitian. "The more we understand about the diverse public health needs of our diverse population, the better we'll do at addressing them. I'm looking forward to having the results of this Assessment to guide our work."
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