Monday, March 9, 1998
Program examines cultural issues
ACADEMICS: Curriculum integrates public health, specific Asian
concerns
By Teresa Jun
Daily Bruin Contributor
UCLA recently created the nation’s first joint master’s program
in public health and Asian American studies.
The concurrent degree program, which enables students to earn
two degrees within three years, is designed to combine a
professional background in public health with a strong awareness of
relevant Asian American social issues.
"The program provides the education and opportunities for
students to integrate their expertise in public health with their
knowledge in how culture and history affect the special needs of
the Asian American population," said Cindy Fan, chair of the Asian
American studies program.
Such integration of the two fields is becoming a critical need
in various Asian American communities, according to Marjorie
Kagawa-Singer, director of the concurrent program. "We’re all very
excited about this program because it’s really beginning to address
some important issues," she expressed.
Thai populations, for example, currently experience the highest
rate of AIDS among all of the Asian/Pacific Islander communities
living in America.
Yet, these rates may not improve if specific cultural issues
don’t start receiving more attention in the medical arena,
Kagawa-Singer suggested.
"Issues of shame and stigma are strong in Asian American
cultures," she said. "If people within the community don’t want to
talk about it, and the mainstream doesn’t know about it, you can’t
address the problem. The high-risk behaviors leading to AIDS in
these populations aren’t changing because the knowledge isn’t out
there."
The program director also attributes the lack of medical
knowledge within Asian American communities to certain persisting
cultural myths.
"(Asian Americans) think they’re not vulnerable, and continue
their high-risk behaviors," Kagawa-Singer said.
Breast cancer is another disease that is subjected to false
beliefs.
While breast cancer shows up in Asian American women at higher
rates than their counterparts in their native countries, many Asian
American women still think this is primarily a white woman’s
disease.
"So, many Asian American women don’t go in for mammograms,"
Kagawa-Singer said. "It’s already a problem now. But it will become
a more significant problem in just a short time."
Another issue the new program hopes to address is a better
representation of all the Asian populations in America.
According to Kagawa-Singer, there are about 60 different Asian
groups currently living in America.
Most, if not all, of these groups tend to get left out of
medical surveys because the surveys don’t translate into the
languages that many immigrants speak. The smaller Asian groups,
such as the Thai, Cambodian and Samoan populations, especially
suffer from such misrepresentation.
The language barrier also presents another problem. Medical
brochures and informational packets don’t reach these populations
because many of them are written only in Spanish and not many Asian
languages, Kagawa-Singer explained.
"There’s just such a lack of communication because of the
language and cultural barriers," agreed France Nguyen, a first-year
graduate student in the School of Public Health. Nguyen plans to
apply to the Asian American studies program so that she can
participate in the concurrent degree program next fall.
"(Medical professionals) need to be exposed to such cultural
understandings," Nguyen added. "They don’t have to be Asian. They
just have to understand."
The new program has been receiving positive acceptance from both
faculty and students.
"The idea (of the program) has been around for a long time,"Fan
said.
"But the needs of the communities, growing student interest and
enthusiastic faculty really helped get it going."
This program is just one of many other concurrent programs the
Asian American studies program hopes to create.
"We’re anticipating a series of other joint-degree programs.
We’re forging links between Asian American studies and professional
fields such as social welfare, urban planning, and law. It offers
something very practical for our students."