The COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating toll on the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) community. In 13 of the 19 states that disaggregated NHPI data, including California, NHPIs had the highest rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths of any racial and ethnic group. However, many data sources grouped NHPIs into a broader Asian American or Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) category, masking the actual impact of the pandemic on the NHPI community.

Working alongside NHPI community leaders and partners, researchers at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research's NHPI Data Policy Lab, UC Irvine, and UC Riverside developed the California Pacific Islander Well-being and COVID-19 Economic Survey (CAPIWAVES) to understand the mental health and economic impacts of the pandemic on NHPIs in California. 

Based on responses from 929 NHPI adults between January 2024 and May 2024, researchers produced a comprehensive report that features data on psychological distress, mental health care needs and unmet needs, barriers to care, sources of stress, and coping strategies, as well as job loss, decreases in household income, difficulty paying for food and housing, difficulty accessing government financial assistance, and more.

The report provides disaggregated estimates for seven NHPI groups: CHamoru, Fijian, Marshallese, Native Hawaiian, Sāmoan, Tongan, and other Pacific Islander. 

Join us as we share findings from the report and hear from NHPI community leaders about the importance of NHPI communities being able to access their data and how they plan to use it.