The month of October is dedicated to Filipino American History month, celebrating Filipinos past and present in the United States. The first record of Filipinos in the country who travelled by ship through Spanish galleon to California on October 18, 1587, further marking the month of dedication. Filipino Americans have maintained a culture of food, family, religion, and cultural tradition. 

Although they have been here for centuries, overall health among this group is very much understudied, along with other Asian American subgroups — causing a rift in broader healthcare access, answers, and misrepresentations within studies and treatments. In the lens of lifestyle, Filipino Americans as a whole experience higher rates of hypertension and obesity due to a lack of dedicated physical activity and practice.

Due to the fact that the western and Filipino cultural diet consists of high amounts of sodium, sugar, and fat, the two diets combined raise health concerns within this population, linking them to conditions and diseases such as high blood pressure/hypertension, hyperlipidemia/high Cholesterol, and diabetes. The National Minority Quality Forum houses two campaigns centered around patient resources and access hubs to broader information concerning these specific health issues. 

Lift Every Voice is a campaign under the NMQF that focuses on minority communities, providing an empowering space of information and action, where one of the main focuses is hyperlipidemia. This subsection of the campaign is called “There’s Levels to this”, where treatment options, lifestyle choice, and overall navigation are emphasized. 

Health Not Hype is another campaign under the NMQF that focuses on GLP-1 safety, education, verifiability, and easier access. GLP-1 is a medication specifically designed to regulate blood sugar, appetite, and digestion, and is prescribed to support/sustain weight loss along with a healthy lifestyle. It is essential to determine if the GLP-1s one is consuming is FDA approved, as there are many counterfeit and illegally marketed products of the medication. Health Not Hype also emphasized Medicare’s new GLP-1 BRIDGE program that was created to make certain GLP-1 medication types more affordable for eligible Medicare beneficiaries.

Filipino Americans are one of the many minority groups in America that are under-recognized in healthcare, despite so many individuals contributing to the healthcare systems as nurses, doctors, physicians, and more. To wrap up Filipino History Month, it is good to keep in mind the resources and ways to upkeep overall health and wellness, while also celebrating this wonderful community of people.