10.001 Defending Access to Affordable Health Care 

1) APAMSA recognizes that increased access, quality, and affordability should be the guiding principles of any move to reform health care; 2) APAMSA supports actions that increase the number of insured AANHPI’s, expand essential health benefits, and improve the quality and affordability of health care; 3) APAMSA opposes actions that make health care less accessible and less affordable for AANHPI communities. (Res 3, A-18)

10.002 Calling for Disaggregation of AAPI Health Outcomes Data

1) APAMSA advocate for federal/state legislation and other efforts by organizations and public agencies to disaggregate data regarding health outcomes and representation in medicine of multiple ethnic groups of the Asian American and Pacific Islander umbrella. (Res 3, B-18)

10.003 Promoting Access to Linguistic and Culturally Relevant Health Care

1) APAMSA supports efforts by medical schools and academic hospitals to emphasize to students and residents that good clinical practice requires the provision of culturally and linguistically relevant health care; 2) APAMSA support efforts to make all health resources and services available in as many languages as is clinically necessary, and to create a culture that encourages clinicians to provide equitable care to LEP patients; 3) APAMSA supports increased funding towards efforts and innovative practices that alleviate cultural and language barriers to health care. (Res 4, B-18)

10.004 Addressing the Lack of AAPI Health Outcomes Data

1) APAMSA supports the inclusion of Asian American patients in clinical trials; 2) APAMSA opposes actions by federal agencies that result in obscuring of AANHPI data or discouragement of AANHPI participation in surveys and Census questionnaires to the extent that they may ultimately harm AANHPI health.

10.005 Reaffirming that Vaccinations are a Public Health Advancement

1) APAMSA supports efforts by public officials to increase vaccinations; 2) APAMSA will strongly advocate for vaccinations for the public and support legislative limits on exemptions from vaccinations. 

10.006 Support of a Single-Payer Universal Health Care System

1) APAMSA recognizes that a single payer universal health care system would grant coverage to all AANHPI’s, as well as improve access, quality, and accessibility of health care for all AANHPI’s; 2) APAMSA supports the implementation of a single payer universal health care system in the United States; 3) APAMSA supports intermediate actions that would facilitate a transition to a single payer universal health care system without increasing the number of uninsured or underinsured AANHPI’s.

10.007 Protecting the Rights of Health Care Students Living With Hepatitis B

1) APAMSA encourages health professions schools to develop ADA-compliant anti-discrimination policies based on disability that explicitly include and provide reasonable accommodations for persons with hepatitis B; 2) APAMSA supports efforts at health professions schools to educate faculty, staff, and students about hepatitis B and the rights and protections of individuals with disabilities under the ADA; 3) APAMSA encourages chapters to refer impacted and interested individuals to resources such as the Hepatitis B Foundation helpline or the Department of Justice; 4) APAMSA requests that health professions schools monitor and track instances of discrimination against students with hepatitis B so that appropriate action may be taken to address and prevent such incidents from occurring; 5) APAMSA supports efforts by its chapters to collaborate with professional organizations and advocacy groups in advocating for the rights of individuals with hepatitis B.

 

10.008: Promoting Gender and Sexuality Equity in Medicine and Healthcare

1) APAMSA recognizes and denounces discrimination against SGM populations  at the individual, interpersonal, and structural level; 2) APAMSA encourages medical professionals to adopt a sexuality- and  gender-affirming approach to patient care that respects intersectional identities; 3) APAMSA encourages medical professionals to advocate for SGM patients in  the face of challenges and barriers to health care when encountered; 4) APAMSA advises medical institutions to acknowledge and act on the  importance of educating medical students on SGM topics and care to better equip future  physicians and address current inequities affecting the SGM community; 5) APAMSA advises medical institutions to implement gender-affirming  practices and nondiscrimination policies wherever applicable; 6) APAMSA advocates for legislation and policies, and supports organizations  and public health agencies that aim to promote health equity and well-being of SGM  populations. 

 

10.009 Addressing Weight Stigma and Weight Discrimination in Medicine and Healthcare

1) APAMSA denounces weight stigma and discrimination in medicine and healthcare, recognizing it as a barrier to providing high-quality and egalitarian care, and thus leading to poorer health outcomes; 2) APAMSA supports advancing research on the impact of weight stigma on health outcomes, particularly among AANHPI populations; 3) APAMSA upholds a weight-inclusive approach to patient care and endorses medical training that improves provider attitudes and empathy toward higher BMI patients; 4) APAMSA promotes adopting medical equipment that are usable by patients of all sizes and ensuring that specialized instruments for higher BMI patients are readily available; 5) APAMSA further supports deeper investigation into how bodily factors like weight affect public perceptions of Asian Americans and the intersectionality of weight, gender, and race.

 

10.010  Defending Access to Abortion Services

1) APAMSA recognizes the access to safe, voluntary, high quality, and affordable abortion services as a fundamental aspect of health care, to which all people have a right, and thereby recognizes the right of all people to have access to the aforementioned abortion services in a safe and secure environment; 2) APAMSA opposes further local, state, and federal legislative attempts to restrict abortion services, as well as other family planning services such as contraception; 3) APAMSA advocates for legislative changes to protect this right and thereby to ensure the health of all communities; 4) APAMSA advocates for the safety and protections of abortion care providers such as physicians, midwives, nurses, doulas, and more, and condemns the threats and acts of violence against said providers.

 

10.011 Calling for a Commitment to Discrimination and Harassment Prevention in Healthcare Organizations

1) APAMSA supports the development of anti-discrimination and anti- harassment policies for healthcare organizations (including but not limited to departments, hospitals, and clinics); 2) APAMSA supports community-led research initiatives assessing the success and effectiveness of anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies and implementation protocol; 3) APAMSA promotes increased reporting and meaningful organizational response to reporting; 4) APAMSA offers support and work to provide resources for AANHPI healthcare workers reporting instances of racism and harassment in the workplace.

20.001 Protecting Undocumented Patients at Student-Run Clinics and Teaching Hospitals

1) APAMSA recognizes fears of detention and deportation as significant deterrents for immigrant families seeking health care; 2) APAMSA supports efforts by chapters to educate student-run clinics about the rights and options of undocumented immigrants seeking care; 3) APAMSA encourages initiatives to distribute language-appropriate printouts at student health clinics that express APAMSA’s support of undocumented immigrants’ rights and access to healthcare, and also directs them to resources such as pro bono legal help; 4) APAMSA encourages efforts to recruit specialists to offer pro-bono help at these clinics, including services such as post-surgical rehabilitation; 5) APAMSA opposes the presence of ICE at teaching hospitals and medical school rotation sites; 6) APAMSA supports legislation and policy designating healthcare facilities as sensitive locations where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforcement actions cannot occur. (Res 1, A-18)

20.002 Supporting Refugee and Migrant Health and Safety

1) APAMSA encourages efforts by chapters to promote and advocate for the health and safety of refugees and migrants; 2) APAMSA oppose any actions or policies that involve separation of immigrant children from their families; 3) APAMSA support greater public oversight of living conditions within public and private detention facilities to ensure they meet the standards set by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. (Res 1, B-18)

20.003 Supporting Health Care Access for Undocumented Immigrants

APAMSA supports efforts by public officials to make health coverage more accessible to undocumented individuals, including measures to expand Medicaid and other public health plans to income-eligible individuals regardless of immigration status.

30.001 Increasing Mental Health Resources and Fighting Stigma

1) APAMSA supports increased mental health resources at undergraduate and medical schools; 2) APAMSA supports efforts at undergraduate and medical schools to promote awareness of mental health resources and reduce stigma surrounding mental illness; 3) APAMSA supports legislation that increases access to culturally and linguistically relevant mental health care. (Res 2, A-18)

 

3.002 Institutional Microaggressions and Discrimination With Relation to Mental Health in Medicine and Healthcare

1) APAMSA continues to recognize and denounce racial discrimination at the individual, interpersonal, and structural level; 2) APAMSA continues to support increased vigilance investigating and resolving microaggressions and discrimination at undergraduate and medical schools; 3) APAMSA encourages academic and medical institutions to actively promote a positive racial environment, respecting every individual’s cultures, cultural practices, and cultural events; 4) APAMSA advises academic and medical institutions to recognize and denounce any racial microaggressions on the individual, cultural, or institutional level; 5) APAMSA encourages academic and medical institutions to raise awareness and take collective action to identify implicit bias, power, privilege differentials, and systemic racism inherent within academic medicine and our own lived experiences; 6) APAMSA supports legislation and policies that expand or continue protections against racial discrimination; 7) APAMSA supports legislation that increases access to culturally and linguistically relevant mental health care, particularly in the face of racial discrimination.

40.001 Advocating for Recognition of Southeast Asians and Pacific Islanders as URM

1) APAMSA will reach out to scholarship programs, pipeline programs, and other programs aimed at or catered to URM students and urge them to be inclusive of Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander students in all communications promoting their programs; 2) APAMSA will ask AAMC and AACOM to release a statement calling on medical schools to consider including Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander students in outreach and admissions efforts intended to increase student body diversity.

40.002 Improving Campus Diversity Initiatives

1) APAMSA believes the core mission of all campus diversity committees and initiatives should include a) active recruitment of URM students and b) curriculum reform efforts aimed at equipping students with the tools to address structural barriers to health care; 2) APAMSA encourages all chapters to work closely with diversity programs at their schools in pursuit of the above two goals through activities that include (but are not limited to) active involvement in the admissions process, calls for positive change to university policies, and periodic evaluation of their university’s fulfillment of specific, measurable diversity objectives; 3) APAMSA will collaborate with AMA-MSS, the Student National Medical Association (SNMA), the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA), Association of Native American Medical Students (ANAMS), and other concerned organizations on national initiatives aimed at the recruitment of URM students into medicine.

40.003 Defending Race-Conscious Admissions in Undergraduate Medical Education

1) APAMSA recognizes that increased enrollment of students from communities that are historically underrepresented in medicine is beneficial and necessary for improving patient care; 2) APAMSA supports the use of race-conscious recruitment, admission, and retention practices by medical schools in the pursuit of a diverse and inclusive student population; 3) APAMSA opposes legislation and efforts that would dissolve or otherwise deter medical schools from employing race-conscious admissions policy to promote a diverse and inclusive student population.

40.004 Against Racism in Medicine​

1) APAMSA opposes all forms of racism both in medicine and in society at large; 2) APAMSA actively promotes an antiracist culture, including but not limited to a) rejecting all race-based medicine & science (e.g. race-based adjustments in eGFR and pulmonary function tests) and affirming that racism, not race, is a risk factor, b) supporting the creation of organized student anti-racism coalitions, including collaboration with other minority-based student organizations to address these issues within education, research, and clinical practices, and c) supporting institutional funding and creation of offices, staff, and spaces dedicated specifically to the needs of underrepresented groups in medicine.

40.005 Denouncing Housing Discrimination of AANHPI​

1) APAMSA supports further research on the impact of housing discrimination on health and health inequities in AANHPI communities; 2) APAMSA denounces AANHPI housing discrimination in all its forms, and supports legislation and national fair housing policies that address persistent patterns of discrimination and inequity that negatively impact AANHPI health.

40.006 Denouncing Gun Violence and Supporting Gun Reform

1) APAMSA denounces gun violence, recognizing it as a imminent and preventable public health crisis which requires comprehensive public health and legislative response and solutions; 2) APAMSA supports a) federal and state research on firearm-related injuries and deaths; b) increased funding for and the use of state and national firearms injury databases to inform health policy; and c) legislative action for sensible gun laws that include, but are not limited to, promoting adequate oversight of firearms and ammunition, banning assault-type weapons, supporting gun buyback programs, mandatory training and licensing, and safe and secure firearm storage.

40.007 Redefining AAPI/APIA as AANHPI

1) APAMSA will henceforth use “AANHPI” in all future initiatives, published materials, and communications when referring to communities it represents, 2) APAMSA will release a statement encouraging U.S. medical schools and relevant stakeholders to acknowledge the unique history and cultural obstacles faced by Native Hawaiian communities; 3) APAMSA supports further research on the impact of discrimination and historical injustices on health outcomes and health inequities in the Native Hawaiian population.

40.008 Rectifying the Inequitable and Racist Effects of “The Flexner Report”

1) APAMSA will (a) acknowledge the harm created and sustained by the adoption of “The Flexner Report” and (b) work with appropriate stakeholders to create, distribute, and promote curricular materials that educate about this history; 2) APAMSA will advocate for the commissioning of a new comprehensive study to evaluate medical education in the United States, incorporating standards on antiracism, health equity, and justice training as well as other interventions preparing medical trainees to care for an increasingly diverse patient population; 3) APAMSA will advocate for the creation of HBCU-affiliated medical schools and support funding efforts for currently existing and future HBCU-affiliated medical schools, with the goal of achieving a physician workforce that is proportional to the general population in terms of race and ethnicity; 4) APAMSA will work with appropriate stakeholders to increase the number of scholarships, loan repayment programs, and other relevant measures to minimize the financial burden of medical training for Black medical students and other groups underrepresented in medicine; 5) APAMSA will advocate for studying the possibility of including antiracism competency as a part of graduation requirements for LCME- and COCA-accredited medical schools as well as ACGME-accredited residency programs.

40.009 Recognizing Cultural Trauma as a Source of Health Disparities

1) APAMSA supports the recognition of cultural trauma as a cause of health  disparities; 2) APAMSA encourages culturally-sensitive trauma-informed care that  acknowledges and integrates an individual’s cultural beliefs, values, and practices; 3) APAMSA promotes cultural awareness, responsiveness, and understanding  to prevent cultural trauma, eliminate disparities, and advance health equity for all groups. 

40.010 Advocating for Health Equity in US Affiliated Pacific Islands Through Elimination of Medicaid Limitations Within US Territories

1) APAMSA advocates for federal legislation that promotes health equity within US-Affiliated Pacific Islands, including but not limited to Medicaid parity and the continued funding of federal safety net programs like disaster relief and health services; 2) APAMSA supports political equality and representation of U.S. territories; 3) APAMSA affirms its support for the health and well-being of individuals living in the US-API, especially in consideration of its large AANHPI population.

40.011 Recognizing and Combating Health Disparities from COVID and future Pandemics in AANHPI Communities

1) APAMSA calls attention to the dramatic rise in anti-Asian hate in the context of COVID-related political rhetoric that has exacerbated bias, discrimination, and hate against people of Asian descent; 2) APAMSA recognizes the disparities in health outcomes experienced by AANHPI communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, including but not limited to a disproportionately mortality burden among NHPIs and high case fatality rates and excess mortality among Asian Americans compared to the overall population and white Americans; 3) APAMSA advocates for public health policy and initiatives that advance our understanding of AANHPI health disparities and contribute to the mitigation of such disparities with respect to not only COVID-19 but also future pandemics and other disease burdens facing AANHPI communities; 4) APAMSA reaffirms its call for the inclusion of AANHPIs in all health data collection and reporting by race and ethnicity, and further that this data be disaggregated by AANHPI subgroups to the furthest extent possible; 5) APAMSA acknowledges disparities in disease burden facing all people of color and seeks to work in allyship towards advancing shared goals in ameliorating health disparities.

50.001 Reducing Drug Industry Influence on Continuing Medical Education
1) APAMSA recognizes that CME that is free from industry sponsorship will increase rational prescribing, reduce commercial bias in medical education, and protect patients from unnecessary and potentially harmful drugs; 2) APAMSA encourages the attendance of “pharma-free CME” which requires that a) no speakers and committees involved have industry ties or payments and b) no monetary or non-monetary industry contributions are used to support the CME; 3) APAMSA supports alternatives to industry sponsorship to keep CME low-cost and objective for participating healthcare providers.

50.002 Increasing Skin Tone Representation in Dermatology
APAMSA supports the equitable representation of darker skin tones in dermatologic medical education, including but not limited to didactic materials and practice-based learning.

50.003 Increasing Access to Type II Diabetes Education, Awareness, and Prevention in AANHPI 

1) APAMSA support efforts at medical schools and clinical settings to promote  type 2 diabetes awareness, education, and health advocacy in AANHPI; 2) APAMSA supports integration of culturally informed type 2 diabetes prevention and treatment within medical education curriculum and clinical guidelines; 3) APAMSA support research efforts on type 2 diabetes prevalence and clinical presentations in AANHPI.