Center in the News List
“Historically, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Asian people have been viewed as a monolithic group, which mistakenly led others to generalizing their experiences,” said Ninez Ponce, director at the CHPR and an author of the report. “By disaggregating the data for the different groups, we’re learning important information that could help lawmakers craft policy that does a better job reaching the people who need it.” The perception of a monolithic AAPI group directly affects access to mental health services in different Asian languages.
Among Latinos and Asians living in California, immigrants are less likely than citizens to own a firearm and more likely to report being afraid of becoming a victim of gun violence, according to a new study from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. "This study shows that the immigrant population's concern about gun violence is significant."
In medical research and public health in the United States, people with Asian ancestry are almost always grouped into a single racial category. They seem to be doing very well — better than white Americans in important categories.
But separate out subgroups of Asian Americans and outcomes are far poorer... In a 2020 study, Ninez Ponce, who directs UCLA’s Center for Health Policy Research, found at least one disparity that was disguised by aggregation in every Asian subgroup she and her colleagues examined. “You cannot have health equity without data equity,” said Ponce.
In 2020, the California Health Interview Survey found that Asian hate crimes had affected about 1.5 million Asian Americans.
“What was most shocking is that 27% said that they had witnessed another Asian American Pacific Islander experiencing a hate incident,” said Ninez Ponce, chair of the UCLA’s Department of Health Policy and Management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. “These hate incidents are because of xenophobia and because people see Asians as different from themselves.”
Advocates say that establishment medicine also must work harder for “disaggregated data,” information on smaller subgroups that provides invaluable insight on their medical needs and treatment. This information can be tougher and more time-consuming to develop and analyze — and for private and government funders to want to support. But as Ninez A. Ponce, PhD, MPP, and director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, has argued about sound medical policy making, based on hard data and factual evidence:
“We know that without data equity, we will not achieve health equity. But we also