WASHINGTON: A bipartisan group of US lawmakers has reintroduced legislation seeking more federal research, public awareness and culturally appropriate programmes to address the disproportionately high incidence of heart disease among South Asian Americans.
Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Joe Wilson and Senator Cory Booker introduced the South Asian Heart Health Awareness and Research Act, according to a congressional release carried by CQ. The measure would authorise the US health secretary to provide grants to states for programmes focused on communities disproportionately affected by cardiovascular disease.
"As the first South Asian American woman ever elected to the House of Representatives, I'm fully committed to increasing understanding of heart disease and the unique risk factors in the South Asian community while ensuring that all those living with it get the resources, treatment, and support they need," Jayapal said.
"Heart disease has been the leading cause of death for over a century, and it is even more dire in the South Asian community. The South Asian Heart Health Awareness and Research Act is essential legislation that ensures that we have the research, resources, and treatments to prevent heart disease cases and deaths in the South Asian community and beyond," she said.
Wilson said the problem affects some communities more severely than others.
"Heart disease disproportionately affects certain populations such as the South Asian community, and this bill will expand research and education to benefit those communities," he said.
"I am grateful that this bipartisan bill passed the House in multiple previous Congresses, and I look forward to its final passage into law," Wilson added.
Booker said the legislation would direct research funding towards risk factors that have received inadequate attention.
"Heart disease is taking South Asian Americans from their families at rates the medical community still doesn't fully understand," Booker said.
"This bill puts real research dollars behind the risk factors hiding in plain sight, so doctors can catch what they've been missing. Every community deserves to have its heart health taken seriously, not treated as an afterthought," he said.
The lawmakers said South Asians in the United States face four times the risk of heart disease compared with the general population. The community includes people who immigrated from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, as well as their families. (IANS)
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