REACH 2010: Promoting Access to Health for Pacific Islander and Southeast Asian Women

Publication Date: December 2001

Publisher: Special Service for Groups, Inc.

Author(s): Sora Park Tanjasiri; Marjorie Kagawa-Singer; Mary Anne Foo

Research Area: Health

Keywords: ethnic disparities; AAPI women; breast cancer; cervical cancer

Type: Report

Coverage: California

Abstract:

Breast cancer is the leading site for cancer incidence and mortality for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women in the nation (Jenkins and Kagawa-Singer, 1994). Although AAPI women as an aggregate group have a lower incidence of breast cancer, mortality rates are increasing (American Cancer Society, 2001). Cervical cancer rates for many AAPI women are significantly higher than for white women; for example, Vietnamese women develop cervical cancer at five times the rate of white women. Unfortunately, AAPI women have the lowest breast and cervical cancer screening rates compared to all other ethnic groups (Kagawa-Singer & Pourat, 2000), yet few programs have specifically targeted these women to promote and sustain screening practices.