Mission

The Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO) is a national association representing community health organizations dedicated to promoting advocacy, collaboration and leadership that improves the health status and access of Asian Americans & Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders (AA & NHOPI)* within the United States, its territories, and freely associated states, primarily through our member community health centers.



History

AAPCHO was formed in 1987 by community health centers primarily serving medically underserved AA & NHOPIs. The goal of these organizations was to create a national voice to advocate for the unique and diverse health needs of AA & NHOPI communities and the community health providers that served those needs.

Since that time, AAPCHO has advocated for policies and programs that improve the provision of health care services that are community driven, financially affordable, linguistically accessible, and culturally appropriate.

Among other things, AAPCHO develops, tests and evaluates health education and promotion programs with national significance. The organization also offers technical assistance and training to promote the establishment and expansion of services for medically underserved AA & NHOPI communities. And lastly, as a unified voice of its membership, AAPCHO shares its collective knowledge and experiences with policy makers at the national, state, and local levels.


* A Note on Referencing Asian Americans & Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders:

In an effort to better recognize the diversity of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations and acknowledge the unique health issues each group faces, AAPCHO will be replacing its Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) acronym with Asian American & Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders (AA & NHOPI).
 
Guided by AAPCHO’s board of directors, the decision to use AA & NHOPI reflects AAPCHO’s commitment to using an acronym that is consistent with the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Statistical Directive 15. AAPCHO believes this move falls in line with our efforts to promote the use of a common federal standard among all of our partners. Though we advocate for the use of a uniform standard, AAPCHO acknowledges that organizations will use varying terms and acronyms based on the values of their constituencies.
 
AAPCHO will henceforth refer to this population as Asian Americans & Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, using AA & NHOPI to replace the acronym AAPI in all presentations, publications, documentation, and communications vehicles beginning in January 2009.
 
For the past twenty years, AAPCHO has advocated for programs and policies that improve the health status and access of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. By now adopting the use of AA & NHOPI, we hope to better represent the unique diversity comprising this population and we hope that other organizations representing these communities will strive to do the same.