iamasiam

Fat and Asian

Asian Americans have the lowest obesity rate (39%) across racial/ethnic groups.  A hefty 63% of the total US population is obese or overweight. ^[1] Still, additional statistics among specific Asian Americans do not auger well for me.  Filipino Americans are 70% more likely to be obese than the overall Asian American population. ^[2]

***

I recall how my mother’s face flushed with disappointment the day I began refusing extra helpings from her dinner table.  I imagine that putting together a meal worthy of praise and appreciation had become the culmination of each day.  It is lonely enough for anyone separated from one’s extended family and circle of friends.  It must have been tougher for my mom who had immigrated to this country in her senior years.  But, coming home from work that fateful evening, I held my ground; I refused a second helping.

I repeated this pattern of rejection in the days to come.  It wasn’t that I disliked the dishes that she put together.  In fact, five years after my mom passed away, I still very much miss her cooking.  I know everyone would say the same of his or her mother’s cooking—that it’s the best in the world—and really mean it.  But, I miss my mom and her daily expressions of love, including her devotion in preparing a sumptuous meal for us each night.

It was particularly difficult for me that first night because my favorite dish was on her menu.  The scent of pork adobo greeted me from the very doorstep.  Adobo?  Chunks of pork are browned in oil and garlic, then braised patiently in coconut vinegar, soy sauce, crushed pepper, and bay leaves until tender.  Sometimes, it is finished off in thickened with coconut milk and/or shrimp fry.  Fragrant jasmine rice is served directly from the steamer.  As a side dish, munggo beans are boiled ‘til soft then sautéed with shrimp, garlic, onion, tomatoes and fish sauce.  Mmm!

But sorry, mom, no second serving for me!  My work-stressed, travel-weary and over-compensating poundage needed a makeover.  I have to lose weight, the doctor said, to control my high-blood pressure like you and dad, like brother and sis, already suffer with. That doesn’t mean that I can’t get enough of your gracious servings of love, just not at the dinner table.  Looking back, I really wish I could have said it better.

But, mothers know everything anyway, don’t they?

[1] statehealthfacts.org
[2] U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

The World Hunger Index

According to the International Food Policy Institute¹, twenty nine countries have levels of hunger that are alarming or extremely alarming.  Four of them are in countries in the Asia Pacific Region:

• Pakistan (pop. 176.2 million)
• Cambodia (pop., 13.5 million)
• Bangladesh (pop., 165.1 million)
• Timor-Leste (pop., 1.1 million)

To see the Global Hunger Index (GHI) of the country of interest to you, simply click and drag the marker to that country in the map above and refer to the scale below:

• Low:  Less than or equal to 4.9
• Moderate:  5.0 to 9.9
• Serious:  10.0 to 19.9
• Alarming:  20.0 to 29.9
• Extremely Alarming:  More than or equal to 30.0

¹ifpri.com

With H1N1, Everyday is Global Handwashing Day

Millions of children and adults in over 80 countries are celebrating the second annual Global Handwashing Day. UNICEF Japan has launched a project promoting handwashing among children in Japan and around the world.¹ This video shows a dance choreographed by Kaiji Moriyama, a renowned dancer, as a public service supporting such efforts.  Everybody...Washi, washi, wah...

The Japanese government also launched a "cough etiquette" campaign, which encourages people to cover their mouths, use a tissue and turn away when coughing.²

¹unicef.org
²Catherine Makino, ”Japan takes hand washing to new level”, Chicago Tribune, Oct. 16, 2009

Jim Yong Kim: First Asian American Ivy League Leader

President Jim Yong Kim was inaugurated last Tuesday to become the first Asian American leader of Ivy League school.¹ Dr. Kim co-founded Partners in Health, a Harvard-affiliated nonprofit organization that provided health services in Haiti. He also served as Director of HIV/AIDS in the World Health Organization, a program that significantly raised global AIDS awareness and changed the life prospects of thousands who are currently in treatment.² In his inaugural address, President Jim Yong Kim imparted his wisdom to the student body and bequeathed upon them a greater calling ahead.

Find your passion, be persistent in achieving mastery, pursue knowledge in the way that works best for you and embrace the planet’s problems, because no one will be more prepared to fix them than you.

¹Holly Ramer of The Associated Press, “1st Asian-American to lead Ivy League school inaugurated”, Nashua Telegraph, Sept. 23, 2009
²Global Health Champions, PBS.org

For They Are Uninsured: Blessed are the poor?

The Census Bureau's annual report on income, poverty and health insurance may actually be bleaker than it looks.  That’s according to a Washington Post report which argues that, since the current data was collected in spring before millions more have lost their jobs, the situation may be worse now than what was just reported.¹

• The nation's poverty rate rose to 13.2% in 2008, up from 12.5% in 2007 (the first significant increase since 2004 and the highest level in 11 years)
• Median household income shrank to $50,303 in 2008, down from $52,163 in 2007 (the first drop in four years)
• The number of people without health insurance rose to 46.3 million in 2008, from 45.7 million in 2007 (continuing an eight-year decline)

However, even this Spring snapshot would seem dire enough for Latinos and Asian Americans, who showed the biggest increases in poverty rates, the biggest decreases in median household income, and biggest increases in the uninsured rate or the number of the uninsured.²

• Poverty rates rose at higher rates among Hispanics (23.2% in 2008, up from 21.5% in 2007) and Asian Americans (11.8 % in 2008, up from 10.2% in 2007); in contrast it rose at a lower rate among non-Hispanic whites (8.6 % in 2008, up from 8.2 %in 2007) and remained statistically unchanged for African Americans (24.7 percent).
• Real median income in 2008 declined 5.6% (to $37,913) among Hispanics and 4.4% ($65,637) to among Asians; in contrast, it declined 2.6% among non-Hispanic whites (to $55,530) and 2.8% among African Americans (to $34,218)
• The percentage of uninsured Hispanics decreased to 30.7% in 2008, from 32.1% in 2007. The uninsured rate for Asian Americans in 2008 rose to 17.6%, up from 16.8% in 2007.  In comparison, the uninsured rate and number of uninsured for non-Hispanic whites increased in 2008 to 10.8% and 21.3 million, from 10.4% and 20.5 million in 2007, while the uninsured rate and number of uninsured for African Americans in 2008 were not statistically different from 2007, at 19.1 percent and 7.3 million.  (Note the difference in U.S. Census reporting here for the percentage of the uninsured versus the uninsured rate.)

The challenges we face are very daunting indeed, but according to Congressman Mike Honda (California’s 15th Congressional District) in his article today, what we need is  political courage.³

The task is not small and demands strategies on all fronts, including a more diverse workforce, strengthened ethnic institutions, and improved evaluation and accountability measures. But we must do it quickly; the health of our nation and our economy depends on it. America deserves a health care system that enables everyone to live a healthier and happier life.

For those who would rather challenge the government's efforts to reach a pragmatic solution toward this task, it may be just too overwhelming for them to fathom.  For while what is the right thing to do is to face this challenge head-on, the opposition has taken the more politically expedient approach of wanton opposition.  Is it too steep a bar to reach?  Is it easier to brandish any language one can grasp ("death panel"), allude to any scapegoat one can route ("illegal immigrants"), rouse the irrational fears of the uninformed ("socialism"), or just shout as loudly as one can ("liar") to quiet any lucid conversation that needs to transpire.

¹ Carol Morello and Dan Keating, ”Millions More Thrust Into Poverty”, Washington Post
² “Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2008”, U.S. Census Bureau
³ Rep. Mike Honda, "‘Political Courage’ Needed for Health Care Reform", Nichi Bei Times

Higher Life Expectancy in the US: What about for Asian Americans?

Life expectancy in the country is at its highest level at 77.9 years, according to the CDC’s just-released National Vital Statistics Report.  Broken out by race and gender, as in previous years, life expectancy remains higher among whites compared to blacks, and higher for women than for men. The report does not contain equivalent figures for other racial minorities.

However, accompanied by a caution that mortality for races other than white and black may be seriously understated because of underreporting, the preliminary findings reveal the mortality rates are lowest for those other groups. Also, the death rates reported for the Asian Pacific Islander (API) population is almost half lower the rate of non-Hispanic whites.

“Among the major race and Hispanic origin groups, the lowest mortality was reported for the API, Hispanic, and AIAN populations. Compared with the non-Hispanic white population, preliminary age-adjusted death rates were 46.5 percent lower for the API population, 30.8 percent lower for the Hispanic population, and 18.4 percent lower for the AIAN population. In contrast, the age-adjusted death rate for the non-Hispanic black population was 25.5 percent higher than that for the non-Hispanic white population."

These findings should not feed into the “model minority” myth, specifically the one that suggests we are without problems or needs thus leading us to be underserved in areas of real concern.  According to the CDC profile of Asian Americans:

“Asian Americans represent both extremes of socioeconomic and health indices: while more than a million Asian Americans live at or below the federal poverty level, Asian-American women have the highest life expectancy of any other group. Asian Americans suffer disproportionately from certain types of cancer, tuberculosis, and Hepatitis B.  Factors contributing to poor health outcomes for Asian Americans include language and cultural barriers, stigma associated with certain conditions, and lack of health insurance.”

See related post: “Cancer remains the number one killer among Asian Americans“