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PCA Points Out Prevalent Diseases Among Asian Americans and the Impact of ACA within the Asian American Segment(PR Web Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) October 22, 2013 With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), PCA sees this as the perfect opportunity for pharmaceutical companies to take action and target campaigns to Asian Americans, who represents the fastest growing ethnic segment in the U.S. with a total of 18.9 million people, which stands for 6% of total U.S. population today[2]. The reason being, approximately two million uninsured Asian Americans will be provided with the opportunity to get affordable health insurance coverage[1]. Furthermore, PCA also identifies the healthcare issues that are most prevalent among Asian Americans as well as the barriers they face to get access to proper health care services. “Pharmaceutical companies should be aware of the prevalent diseases among Asian Americans and take into consideration that many times this segment might not perceive the value or understand the necessity of obtaining proper care at the right time. In addition, with the implementation of the ACA, primary care doctors will become overload as millions of people enter the system. This is an opportunity for pharmaceutical companies to offer assistance and gain a deeper understanding of their target consumers,” said Rey Lozano, VP of Marketing at PCA. Furthermore, ACA aims to help keep patients with chronic conditions from getting sicker, which is the perfect timing for pharmaceutical brands to come up with marketing campaigns to boost drug sales. According to the Office of Minority Health, there is a particularly high rate of liver cancer among Asian Americans[3]. In addition, studies from Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities showed that Vietnamese women's cervical cancer rate is five times that of Caucasian women[4]. Diabetes is also another common illness that affects about 10% of the Asian American population, where about 90-95% of Asians with diabetes have Type 2 diabetes[5]. Asian Americans also have among the highest rates of tuberculosis and hepatitis B in the United States according to the National Cancer Institute[6]. Sources from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that Asian Americans are more likely to have joint pain than other ethnicity groups. The United States National Library of Science pointed out that Asian Indians have a high rate of coronary artery disease, and parasitic infections are particularly widespread among Southeast Asian refugees[7]. Asian Americans face cultural and linguistic barriers that may prevent them from getting access to the health care services available to them. The way they deal with illness and disease is also very different from the general population due to their differences in cultural values and beliefs of disease. In most cases, Asian Americans with limited English proficiency have difficulties in understanding the U.S. health care system and communicating with health care providers. Some of them still rely on traditional approaches to health care; this behavior is likely to contribute to the diagnosis of diseases in the later stages which will lead to untreatable conditions[8]. # # # About PCA PCA is a full service minority owned multicultural marketing & communications agency with an emphasis on the Asian American market. For over a decade, the agency has been a leader in providing integrated campaigns for Fortune 1000 companies. Located in Los Angeles and New York, our mission is to provide a unique approach to captivating audiences, become a valued partner to our clients and establish ourselves as leaders in the Asian American community. PCA has served a wide array of clients including Verizon, Gilead Life Sciences, Warner Music Japan, Samsung Electronics, Philippine Airlines, International Media Distribution, Anheuser Busch, Diageo, Lionsgate Entertainment and the Los Angeles Dodgers. For more information, please visit http://www.plancagency.com Sources: [1] The Affordable Care Act and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts/factsheets/2012/05/asian-americans05012012a.html) [2] Asian American Data on U.S. Department of Commerce Census Information Centers (http://www.census.gov/cic/data_links/asian_american_data_links.html) [3] Chronic Liver Disease and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders data from The Office of Minority Health ( https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/templates/content.aspx?ID=6206) [4] Data about Minority Health from The Office of Minority Health & Health Disparities (http://www.cdc.gov/omhd/amh/amh.htm) [5] Datas on Diabetes in Asian Americans from Joslin Diabetes Center (http://aadi.joslin.org/content/diabetes-asians-asian-americans) [6] Center of Disease Control and Prevention press release: CDC launches first national campaign to increase hepatitis B testing among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/2013/Hepatitis-B-Campaign-PressRelease.html) [7] Introduction of Asian American Health from the United States National Library of Medicine (http://asianamericanhealth.nlm.nih.gov/intro1.html) [8] Cultural and Language Barriers, Access to Health Care of Asian Americans from Asian American Health Initiative ( (http://www.aahiinfo.org/english/asianAmericans.php) Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/10/prweb11237814.htm (c) 2013 PRWEB.COM Newswire |