Grant
to study local Cambodian smoking
By
Kristen Wooley
Daily Forty Niner
The
health science department at Cal State Long
Beach has been awarded a research grant
to study the Cambodian population's tobacco
use.
The
$106,456 grant was awarded by the Tobacco-Related
Disease Research Program as a community
academic research award and will sustain
through an 18 month research project.
The
health science chairman Robert Friis and
the Cambodian Association of America's executive
director Him Chhim composed a competitive
proposal to receive the grant that ranked
in the top 17 percent in the state.
The Cambodian population of Long Beach is
one of the largest communities outside of
Cambodia with a population of more than
17,000 according to the 2000 U.S. Census.
Cambodians living in Long Beach are thought
to have the highest ratio of adult male
smokers, much higher than the general population
in the city. Scientific data has not
yet been gathered to prove this theory and
the research project is being launched to
calculate the problems derived from the
smoking rate.
"There
is no specific data done on the population
that reveals the extent of problems effecting
Cambodian children that live in house holds
where 60 percent of the adult males are
heavy smokers," Chhim said. "The effects
of the second hand smoke alone are reasons
enough to investigate."
The
research will also determine the amount
of tax dollars that are spent on the health
care needs of Cambodians who have tobacco
related diseases and health problems. Chhim
said he believes after the data is collected,
it will be easier for organizations such
as the Cambodian Association of America
to execute plans for prevention and intervention.
This
is the second cash awarded granted to the
health science department for tobacco research.
The first project was successful in evaluating
the effects of the 1998 smoke-free bars
law mandated by the state. The level of
the city approval of the law was concluded
to be about 70 percent.
"Society
is getting increasingly diverse as well
as the Cal State Long Beach campus," Friis
said. "We as a community need to recognize
this diversity and accept that everyone
in the community has the right to receive
good health care. There needs to be adequate
prevention programs to reduce the high rate
of smoking that is especially predominating
in the older Cambodian people."
Chhin
says students are encouraged to participate
in the project and get involved. CSULB is
a high performance university and has a
competitive and successful research history.
That is one of the reasons for the Cambodian-Long
Beach team.
"Cal
Sate Long Beach is inside the community
of Cambodians and therefore if there is
an issue within that community, it is ideal
for the university to get involved in the
research and prevention of the issues,"
Chhim said.
The
Cambodian Association of America has tremendous
experience with outreach and with working
with, inside and around the community.
"My
dream is to have more Cambodians receiving
the help from these outreach programs and
more recognition as a community to strive
for excellence," Chhim added. |
