Centering Ethnic Studies in Health Education: Lessons From Teaching an Asian American Community Health Course

Anti-Asian racism and violence dramatically increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, recent studies and reports are showing that the health and well-being of Asian Americans are negatively affected. To address this urgent problem, the field of health education and public health must be equipped with the critical frameworks and concepts to analyze racism and White supremacy and how it affects the health and well-being of Asian Americans. We argue that using an ethnic studies lens in health education can help educators, researchers, and practitioners teach and train health educators to address racism experienced by Asian Americans during COVID-19 in relation to their health. We will discuss the elements of ethnic studies and demonstrate how to use it as a lens in understanding health disparities in the Asian American population influenced and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.