A Bill to raise awareness about the alarming rate of heart disease in South Asian communities in the US, has been cleared for a vote before the full house of representatives later this month.
Drafted by Rep Pramila Jayapal, the Bill which was passed by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce last week seeks to invest in programmes that can help reverse this deadly trend.
The bipartisan legislation, which was originally introduced in 2017 with Republican Congressman Joe Wilson, has 40 co-sponsors in the House, including American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, South Asian Public Health Association, Hindu American Foundation, Hindu American Physicians in Seva, South Asian Health Lifestyle Intervention, among others.
In a press release, Jayapal points out data that suggests South Asians make up 25 percent of the world’s population but 50 percent of global cardiovascular deaths.
“As the first South Asian American woman ever elected to the House of Representatives, I am fully committed to not only raising awareness and 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, adding that “I am proud that this urgently necessary legislation passed committee today (9 September) and I won’t stop fighting until it becomes law.”
Studies, like MASALA or Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America, have demonstrated 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.
Additionally, South Asian Americans are four times more at risk of developing heart disease than the general population, with a 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, a leading cause of heart disease.
If passed, Rep Jayapal's legislation would do the following for the South Asian population:
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