Jha Washington: The US House of Representatives has passed a bipartisan bill aimed at raising awareness about the alarming rate of heart disease in South Asian communities throughout the United States while investing in strategies to reverse the deadly trend. The South Asian Heart Health Awareness and Research Act was introduced by Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal.
As the first South Asian American woman ever elected to the House of Representatives, I am fully committed to not only educating the South Asian community about the risk factors for heart disease but also ensuring that those living with heart disease receive the care, treatment, resources and support they need, Jayapal said. I am proud that the House passed my bipartisan legislation as a significant step in raising the alarm, reversing the trend of heart disease in our communities and saying to South Asian American communities across the country, we see you and we are ready to help, she said.
Studies have shown that South Asians in the United States – people who immigrated from or whose families immigrated from countries including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal – are experiencing a dramatic rise in heart disease. South Asians make up 25 per cent of the world’s population but 50 per cent of global cardiovascular deaths.
Additionally, South Asian Americans are four times more at risk of developing heart disease than the general population, have a much greater chance of having a heart attack before age 50 and have emerged as the ethnic group with the highest prevalence of Type 2 diabetes, which is a leading cause of heart disease. The South Asian American community across the US grew by nearly 40 per cent between 2010 and 2017. Seattle has been among the top five metro areas in the country when it comes to the population of certain South Asian groups.
HR 3131 was originally introduced in 2017 with Republican Congressman Joe Wilson. It is endorsed by American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, American Medical Association, American Stroke Association, WomenHeart; The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, South Asian Public Health Association, Hindu American Foundation, Hindu American Physicians in Seva among others.
The legislation directs the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary to create grants, such as South Asian Heart Health Promotion Grants at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide funding for community groups involved in South Asian heart health promotion and to develop culturally appropriate materials to promote heart health in the South Asian community. It also directs the HHS Secretary to fund grants through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct research on cardiovascular disease and other heart ailments among communities disproportionately affected by heart disease, such as South Asian populations living in the United States, and develop a clearinghouse and web portal of information on heart health research, such as South Asian heart health.
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