Health problems of Asian and Latino immigrants

Many different circumstances influence Asian and Latino immigration to the United States, including poverty, war, educational opportunities, and protection of financial assets. Such varying circumstances point clearly to a different set of expected health problems. Immigrants often lack resources necessary to acquire quality health care. These resources involve language skills, knowledge of US health care and social services, and insurance. Risk factors to which immigrants may have been exposed include poor nutrition, lack of immunizations and vaccinations, inadequate or inappropriate treatment, and inadequate or inaccurate beliefs about illness and treatment. Frequent health problems among Latino and Asian immigrants are tuberculosis, hepatitis B, sexually transmitted diseases, cancer, diabetes, and substance abuse. The nursing care of immigrants involves not only attention to reducing risk and treating illness, but also attention to the provision of resources. Nurses face several ethical dilemmas in the health care of immigrants including a public anti-immigrant sentiment, and political attempts to limit health care and education to immigrants.