Chai & Chat: Preventing Intimate Partner Violence within South Asian Communities

Event on October 24th , 2020, 1:00 AM

SAPHA hosted a panel and networking session to start off the American Public Health Association (APHA) 2020 Annual Meeting and Expo.

In line with APHA’s theme this year, Creating the Healthiest Nation: Preventing Violence, SAPHA invited researchers and leaders from the South Asian community to learn more about researching, addressing, and preventing gender-based violence.

According to community-based studies in the U.S., up to 40% of South Asian women experience intimate partner violence [1]. Since the start of the pandemic, South Asian women in the U.S. are in a vulnerable position due to social isolation measures, economic and immigration-related pressures, underreporting of incidents due to cultural stigma, and inaccessibility of domestic violence shelters. During the panel, we heard from an academic researcher, a clinical psychiatrist, and two community leaders about their efforts to address and prevent intimate partner violence within South Asian communities.

Panel Speakers:

Sabri Bushra, PhD, MSW, Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing
Filza Hussain, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford School of Medicine
Mona Kafeel, Executive Director, Texas Muslim Women’s Foundation
Krittika Ghosh, MSc, Executive Director, Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project

After the panel, SAPHA facilitated a networking session with all the attendees. Health professionals from across the country shared their professional background and their interests in South Asian health.

Resources

References

1. Raj, A., & Silverman, J. G. (2003). Immigrant South Asian women at greater risk for injury from intimate partner violence. American journal of public health, 93(3), 435–437. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.93.3.435