Michigan Center Focuses on Arabic Health, Disparities

For 30 years, the Dearborn, Mich.-based Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, one of the nation's largest Arabic health programs, has served local Arab Americans, and this month, the center will begin building a new health center, the Detroit Free Press reports. According to Dr. Adnan Hammad, who led ACCESS' health division for five years, Arabic people living in the Detroit area have higher levels of lead poisoning, asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking than do other state residents. Furthermore, 37% of Arabic people living in metro Detroit lack insurance, compared to 11% for the rest of Michigan, the Free Press reports. Hammad said, "We have an excellent health system [in the United States] and we have people who need health services. But we don't do a good job of putting them both together." Hammad, who recently was appointed to head ACCESS' public health and mental health divisions, wants to better connect health problems in the Middle East to problems Arabic people experience in the United States, as well as convince U.S. health authorities to find better ways to study Arab health issues. With Hammad's help, ACCESS has created 37 programs -- for pregnant women, children and teenagers, people who smoke and those with diabetes -- and garnered funding from local health departments and foundations to build the program's $5 million budget. In addition, the New Jersey-based Center for Health Care Strategies recently awarded ACCESS and Midwest Health Plan a $100,000 planning grant to improve case management for Arabic Medicaid beneficiaries. If the program they devise proves successful, ACCESS and Midwest Health will receive an additional $400,000. In May, Dearborn will host an international Arab health conference, during which some of the research Hammad has conducted will be presented (Anstett, Detroit Free Press, 3/20).