HIV Experts Urge More Focus
On Asians, Pacific Islanders

OAKLAND -- Doctors, researchers and community leaders gathering at a summit here today called for greater attention to the special plight and needs of Asians and Pacific Islanders suffering from the HIV virus and AIDS, claiming that these groups largely have been ignored in expert dialogues about the fatal disease.

Recent studies show that more than 6 million Asians are infected with HIV/AIDS worldwide. In China alone, researchers expect that more than10 million people will have HIV/AIDS by the year 2010. Yet according to Dr. Frank Wong, a professor at George Washington University who spoke at summit of experts here, “Existing studies of Asian HIV/AIDS patients are not optimal and [Asians] have one of the lowest counseling and testing rates in the country.”

The summit, which was sponsored by the Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center and San Francisco State University, addressed the lack of resources and education available to Asian communities coping with HIV/AIDS, and emphasized the alarming rise of the deadly virus among Asians and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. and around the world.

“Historically, Asians and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. have not registered on the HIV/AIDS radar,” said John Manzon-Santos, executive director of the A&PI Wellness Center. “It has been only in the past few years that that we have made serious headway in conducting culturally specific research.”

Much of this research, however, has been inadequate, because it has often lumped all Asians and Pacific Islanders together, grouping such varying nationalities as East Indians, Polynesians and Chinese in the same category without bothering to establish a context for each different culture.

Manzon-Santos said that in order for research to succeed, community leaders, scholars and researchers from different Asian communities would need to work together to provide cultural, political, social and economic contexts for researchers studying all Asian groups.

Some of the night’s speakers, like Patricia Nalls, who has lived with HIV for 15 years, blamed the lack of research and education on a culture of shame that teaches some Asian groups to neglect important issues like HIV/AIDS for fear of disgracing the Asian community. “We do not talk about sex or sexuality,” said Nalls, who is the founder of a Washington D.C.-based AIDS support group for women of color. “We do not talk about gender issues. We do not talk about drug use. We have to learn to lift the veil of silence.”

The conference will continue for two days and John Manzon-Santos is hoping that the remainder of the summit will be as inspiring as opening day. “We want researchers to come down from their ivory towers, government officials to stop just giving lip service to the issues and community members to learn to participate,” said Manzon-Santos. “We want to inspire Asian communities worldwide.”