Over the past 25 years, the Asian Health Coalition has been committed to eliminate health disparities among Asian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, African, and other underserved communities by utilizing a collaborative partnership approach to support the development and implementation of culturally and linguistically appropriate health equity initiatives.

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The AHC’s priority areas consist of:

  • Health Prevention and Education

  • Cultural Competency

  • Capacity Building and Sustainability

  • Translational Research

These priorities are reflected in our robust, culturally informed work, as well as our community-based partnerships and capacity-building efforts. Partnering with over 45 different ethnic community-based organizations, we continue to increase the breadth and depth of our various health programs.

AHC is a pioneer in forging partnerships with academic and research institutions, such as University of Chicago, Penn State University, Northwestern Medicine, Yale, and University of California - Irvine, to deepen the translational impact of its programs and to develop community-based research initiatives that primarily benefit community-based stakeholders.

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

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Capacity to Generate Needed Asian Health Data
Capacity to Generate Needed Asian Health Data

Funded by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), AHC developed and implemented the first health needs assessment (Chicago Asian Community Survey) in Chicago using census tracks overrepresented by Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodian communities. Respondent driven sampling was used to reach over 850 individuals over a four-month period. This data was used by AHC and community partners to set priorities and create programs to address gap areas.

Capacity to Reach Vulnerable Asian Populations
Capacity to Reach Vulnerable Asian Populations

AHC was selected for the 2015-16 Illinois In-Person Counselor Grant Program, the state’s navigator program to educate and enroll individuals for health coverage. AHC educated more than 6,400 individuals across eight Asian communities and enrolled 2,315 individuals.

Capacity to Provide Evidence-Based Chronic Disease Management Programming
Capacity to Provide Evidence-Based Chronic Disease Management Programming

In 2012, AHC created an evidence-based, culturally adapted cardiovascular self-management curriculum, which was taught by bilingual and bicultural community health workers trained. It was the first evidence-based cardiovascular health promotion program for those at risk for diabetes that has been offered in Chinese, Vietnamese, and Cambodian.

Capacity to Conduct Community Screenings
Capacity to Conduct Community Screenings

With the support of a competitive grant from the IDPH, AHC conducted hepatitis B education and outreach to foreign-born immigrants and refugee populations. Over a 12-month period, our hepatitis prevention program reached 5,555 individuals and provided 433 hepatitis B screenings from 2014 to 2015. Then, from 2015 to 2018, AHC reached another 12,810 individuals and provided 864 screenings. Additionally, from 2014 to 2018, AHC’s cardiovascular and diabetes program reached 2,509 individuals, and provided 430 screenings and 153 referrals to care.

Capacity to Navigate Clients to Care
Capacity to Navigate Clients to Care

Mending the Safety Net is AHC’s unique clinic-community partnership to connect limited English proficient, low-income Asian American populations to community health providers by identifying linkage gaps to build community capacity to connect individuals to care. Through these efforts, Project Phoenix, a CDC-funded program, created a community health worker-community navigator intervention to link hepatitis B positive Asian and African immigrants to community health centers. This program resulted in over 3,000 individuals screened with over 85% linked to care.

Capacity as a Train-the-Trainer
Capacity as a Train-the-Trainer

AHC worked with local health departments to create the Opening Doors Culturally Competent Curriculum, a two-day training program directed to healthcare professionals. Over the past several years, AHC has continuously modified this curriculum for various health prevention topics, and as a result, trained over 5,000 individuals.