Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, people of Asian descent have been the targets of a dramatic rise in discrimination, harassment, and verbal and physical assault. The President and other prominent political figures in the United States have repeatedly referred to COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus” and have blamed the Chinese for the pandemic, further inflaming anti-Asian discrimination and xenophobia. Asian-Americans of all ethnicities have been scapegoated, bullied, verbally attacked, and physically assaulted. Stop AAPI Hate, a website created in March 2020 to track attacks against members of Asian American Pacific Islander communities, received more than 2,500 reports of anti-Asian incidents between March 19th and August 5th.
In a recent commentary published in the American Journal of Public Health, Justin Chen, MD, MPH and colleagues review the history of anti-Asian discrimination in the United States and discuss the impact of such discrimination on the health and well-being of Asian-Americans. They note that the current events parallel earlier periods in American history, starting with what was called the “Yellow Peril”; as large numbers of Asians came to the United States in the 19th century, they were viewed as being dirty and disease-ridden, a stereotype perpetuated by government officials, newspapers, and medical literature.
The experience of racial discrimination has been associated with worse psychological and physical health outcomes. In the short run, this kind of dscrimination can lead to reduced access to health services and may discourage help seeking. Structural racism and institutional barriers also impede access to medical care, given the paucity of bilingual and bicultural providers and culturally appropriate services.
For Asian Americans specifically, discrimination is a robust predictor of diminished well-being and increased mental health problems. Minorities who experience racial discrimination have worse health outcomes, including higher rates of disability and higher all-cause mortality. Furthermore, discrimination exacerbates a range of chronic health conditions, including cardiac disease, respiratory conditions, and pain.
The COVID-19 pandemic will have significant negative effects on the health and emotional well-being of many Americans, and Asian Americans and other vulnerable groups are likely to be significantly impacted. The pandemic has laid bare so many societal problems and has revealed how structural racism and institutional barriers may negatively affect the health of vulnerable populations; yet, Chen optimistically notes that new organizations and coalitions have recently formed to address anti-Asian discrimination and to report and track incidents of racism against Asian Americans. Increased awareness of racism and its insidious harms has spurred civic and political engagement within the Asian American community, which will hopefully lead to meaningful change in the future.
Reference:
Chen JA, Zhang E, Liu CH. Potential Impact of COVID-19-Related Racial Discrimination on the Health of Asian Americans. Am J Public Health. 2020 Nov;110(11):1624-1627.
Resources:
MGH Center for Cross Cultural Student Emotional Wellness
The Asian Mental Health Collective
NY Coalition for Asian American Mental Health
Justin A Chen, MD MPH is the Medical Director of Ambulatory Psychiatry Services and Co-Director of Primary Care Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. He serves as the executive director and co-founder of the MGH Center for Cross Cultural Student Emotional Wellness. Clinically, he specializes in the treatment of adult mood and anxiety disorders. He is also dedicated to teaching and mentorship, serving as Co-Director of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Co-Director and core faculty in the Mind, Brain, and Behavior pre-clinical neurosciences course at HMS, and Co-Director of the longitudinal Sociocultural Psychiatry curriculum for MGH/McLean psychiatry residents. He is an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. He was recently selected to the 2020-23 cohort of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program for his project, “Breaking Silences in the Model Minority: A national intervention to increase mental health awareness and decrease stigma in Asian immigrant families.”
0 Comments