PI Women & Health Issues -Meryllia Luavasa and Karla Henry

Because Asian Americans outnumber PI’s, PI Women are often in the shadows of Asian American women and one of the areas that this is illustrated in is health. After researching PI women and health, we realize that because there is not much information regarding specific health issues of PI women there is a lack awareness to help PI women acknowledge and fight these issues. This enlightenment has led to our main research question that we will be answering which is: what are the health issues that are prominent amongst PI women? We explore some of factors that cause difficulty in addressing these issues and the efforts that are trying to raise awareness in their communities.

According to the Asian American Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) the most commonly diagnosed cancer amongst PI women is Breast Cancer. This is mainly due to late detection and low screening rates that are common amongst PI women due to lack of knowledge on the prevalence of the disease in their community.

Another common illness in the PI community is Diabetes. The type of diabetes that is typically found among Pacific Islanders is Type 2 Diabetes. A lot of PI women are diagnosed with diabetes because of their diet. In Samoa, their diets were different but since there has been a lot of western influences latelt, diabetes has soared in the PI population.   

A suprising issue for PI women is Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD's). In most PI cultures, the topic of sex is very uncomfortable especially if it is done outside of marriage because it goes against cultural values. Because of the sensitivity of this topic in the PI communities, it is difficult to initiate programs of STD preventions because to initiate it would mean to acknowledge that many PI’s are committing acts that aren’t valued in the culture. There's a conflict between the American culture and the PI culture because the PI culture emphasizes for sex to be committed after marriage, not before.

     There are many explanations as to why breast cancer along with diabetes and STD’s are prevalent. PI women are in a tough position when it comes to health issues because the lack health insurance for the PI populations. The Native Hawaiians poverty rate in the US is 15%, 20.2% of Samoans live below the poverty line, and one out of seven (34%) Chamorros live below the poverty line as well (APIAHF). Another factor that makes it difficult to recognize PI health issues is language barriers. Language barriers make it extremely difficult for doctors to communicate to LEP patients. Because there is a small population of PI's compared to other races in general. They are prone to neglect when it comes to health service access.  





     Despite the challenges, thankfully there are efforts that are in progress. There been some pamphlets published in Samoan and English for Samoans who are LEP and information available diabetes and the PI community.



Pamplet on diabetes in Samoan and Tongan



There are efforts for STD prevention as far as Asian American and PI’s but this where the disaggregation of both races is needed because these programs tend to focus more on Asian Americans. It is understandable why PI’s are always overlooked because they are a small population and there are more Asian Americans than PI’s which is exactly why they should be disaggregated altogether, because the focus will always be more on the Asian Americans.