APPEAL guest edits peer reviewed articles on eliminating tobacco disparities among AAs & NHPIs
Oakland, C.A. – Today, Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership (APPEAL) and Health Promotion Practice(HPP) released the second ever (and first in over a decade) issue of a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to tobacco use in the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AA & NHPI) communities.
PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION
Contact:
George C. Wu
(202) 306-0898
[email protected]
Rod Lew
Executive Director, APPEAL
(510) 318-7814
[email protected]
August 15, 2013
First Journal Issue Dedicated to AA & NHPI Tobacco Use Released in a Decade
Oakland, C.A. – Today, Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership (APPEAL) and Health Promotion Practice (HPP) released the second ever (and first in over a decade) issue of a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to tobacco use in the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AA & NHPI) communities.
“APPEAL is pleased to be involved in both historic efforts to highlight the damage tobacco use has on our communities and the solutions that have been tested and proven successful,’’ said APPEAL Executive Director Rod Lew, who was a guest editor for the issue. “Tobacco use amongst AAs & NHPIs continues to remain high, and community members then suffer health consequences. That is why this issue of Health Promotion Practice is so important, and why we need to work together to advocate for the health of our communities.”
Promising Practices to Eliminate Tobacco Disparities Among Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Communities focuses on how these promising practices can lead to a tobacco free community norm and policy change. Tobacco use continues to be the single most preventable cause of death for all groups in the United States, including AAs & NHPIs. Men’s smoking rates among Pacific Islanders (35.7%) and Vietnamese (30.7%) are almost double those of all men in California, according to the 2009 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). Rates are also high among Korean (21.5%) and Filipino men (18.7%).
At the release, former smoker Rico Foz talked about his struggle with tobacco use: “It took cancer to make me give up smoking. I was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and had surgery to remove the cancer, but because I was uninsured at the time, we had to use our family’s savings to pay for medical bills. I had a difficult recovery–barely able to walk or move–so my wife, a nurse, had to quit her job to care for me. Luckily, I recovered.”
Promising Practices to Eliminate Tobacco Disparities Among Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Communities will be available open access to the general public on September 1, 2013. Media can obtain an advance by contacting Elaine Colwell, [email protected]. For more information about APPEAL’s strategies for tobacco control and eliminating tobacco-related disparities for AAs & NHPIs, please visit www.appealforcommunities.org.
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Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment, Advocacy and Leadership (APPEAL) is a national organization working towards social justice and a tobacco-free Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) community. To learn more about APPEAL, please visit www.appealforcommunities.org.
Health Promotion Practice (HPP), an official journal of the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE), publishes authoritative articles devoted to the practical application of health promotion and education. The journal provides information of strategic importance to a broad base of professionals engaged in the practice of developing, implementing, and evaluating health promotion and disease prevention programs.
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