AshaUSA a non-profit organization focused on fostering health and harmony in the South Asian community in Minnesota.

AshaUSA was formed in July 2014 with a mission is to "Provide culturally specific programs  to the South Asian community to foster health  and harmony in their lives."

Ms. Kamala Puram, MBA is the founder and Executive Director of AshaUSA.  Kamala is passionate about engaging the community to increase the awareness of health issues and develop programs to help them stay healthy through diet, exercise, and preventative care.  There are over 44,000 South Asians living in Minnesota and 75% of them are first generation immigrants.

In her previous role as the Executive Director of SEWA-AIFW, Kamala partnered with the University of Minnesota to conduct Project SAHAT, a health needs assessment survey for the South Asian community in Minnesota.  The survey identified diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol as the biggest health issues in the community.  The three areas of concern the study results pointed out were:

a) Onset of these diseases at an earlier age,

b) Health status of the new arrivals from South Asian countries

c) Under utilization of preventative care

Eighteen percent of the participants surveyed indicated that they were not receiving culturally specific services.  Kamala has developed tips for the medical professionals while working with South Asian families and routinely makes presentations to health care providers on South Asian culture.

Anyone who is interested in this research or implementing similar programs please send an email via their contact page. 

• Findings from New Study on Breast Cancer Screening in First-Generation Muslim Women in Chicago

  Memoona Hasnain (University of Illinois at Chicago), who also is a SAPHA Board member and Research Committee Chair, and her colleagues recently published an article in the Journal of Women's Health with results from a study exploring beliefs about breast cancer, screening practices, and factors associated with mammography use among first-generation immigrant South Asian and Middle Eastern Muslim women.  The authors adapted and administered a survey in Urdu, Hindi, Arabic, and English to 207 South Asian and Arab women in Chicago, IL.  They found that although 70% of the women reported having had a mammogram at least once, only 52% had had one within the past 2 years.  Total years in the US, self-efficacy, perceived importance of mammography, and intent to be screened were all predictors of a woman ever getting a mammogram. In fact, total years in the US, having a primary care provider, perceived importance of mammography, barriers, and intent to be screened were all predictors of whether a woman had a mammogram in the past 2 years.  The results provide important and novel information about factors associated with Muslim women's participation in mammography screening.  The authors conclude that "findings of this study are intended to encourage future research to develop and test culturally appropriate, patient-centered strategies for promoting timely and regular breast cancer screening and therapeutic services for immigrant Muslim women, as well as for other minority immigrant women in the United States."  UIC Science posted a blog highlighting this work and the study findings.
   

•  An Academic-Public Health Department Partnership for Education, Research, Practice, and Governance

  SAPHA Board member and Local Partnerships Chair, Nazeera Dawood, and her colleagues have published about partnerships in healthcare in the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.  Partnerships between medical schools and public health departments have been historically uncommon, yet collaboration between the two entities has great potential to serve the community.  Academic-health department partnerships can take 4 forms: partnerships in education and training; partnerships in research; partnerships in public health practice; and partnerships in governance.  In Atlanta, Georgia, the Morehouse School of Medicine (particularly its Prevention Research Center or PRC) and the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness (FCDHW, particularly the Health Promotion Division) have demonstrated partnership in each of these areas.  With respect to education, they have collaborated on clerkships for medical students and rotations for preventive medicine residents.  The partnership has also collaborated to secure trainees (or fellows) from CDC'S Public Health Prevention Service who has worked with both entities. In research, Morehouse faculty and the health department staff have worked together on projects that focus on various health education initiatives and their effectiveness including the execution of a REACH (Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health) grant from CDC.  In practice, they have been able to implement interventions developed through their joint research efforts such as the intervention, EPICS (Educational Program to Increase Colorectal Cancer Screening) which promotes colorectal screenings in the community.  In governance, the health department has a representative on the PRC board, while the PRC principal investigator serves on the Fulton County Board of Health.  Benefits have accrued to both entitles and to the communities that they serve as a result of their collaboration and innovation.
   

• Brown Paper 
  The SAPHA Research Committee continues work on the Brown Paper 2nd edition. If you have any questions regarding the Brown Paper, please contact research@sapha.org. You can currently access the complete Brown Paper 1st edition online by clicking here.