WELCOME TO THE

Regional Pacific Islander Taskforce

The Taskforce enhances awareness and visibility of Pacific Islander health inequalities and social issues through advising the county’s public health department.

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Learn More about Pacific Islander History And Culture

Support Health Departments & County Agencies

RPITF envisions a thriving Pacific Islander, faith-based community organization, and small businesses to ensure Health, Well-being, and Prosperity.

OUR MISSION

Unifying Pacific Islanders across the Bay Area to address community needs through sustainable cross-system collaboration.

OUR VISION

We envision a thriving Pacific Islander faith-based, community organization, and small businesses to ensure Health, Well-being, and Prosperity.

OUR VALUE

RPITF values Honor, Respect and Dignity

Where Pacific Islanders Originate

Pacific Islanders encompass a wide range of cultural groups and nationalities from Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia in the Pacific Ocean.

Polynesia consists of several groups of islands forming a triangle including Hawaii, the Easter Islands, and New Zealand. Melanesia includes Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu Islands, and New Caledonia. Micronesia is divided into eight territories which include Guam, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands.

Our FOCUS AREA

The Taskforce adopted a life-course model as a framework that strategically prioritizes, for instance, housing as a fundamental need and follows a life span to see how the interplay of risk and protective factors influence health through a Pacific Islander’s lifetime—from prenatal health to birth outcomes and across the life-course.

RPITF has 5 priority focus areas within public health, which include:

Analyzing the multiple factors influencing both individual and population health over the life course offers a broader understanding of patterns of health and disease disparities by recognizing how these are shaped by social, structural, and cultural contexts.

Who we Serve:

RPITF serves Pacific Islanders, defined as the indigenous people of Melanesia, Micronesia or Polynesian people, who live in the 10 different Bay Area Counties.

Achievements

UNITING THREE DIRECTORS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND THEIR LEADERSHIP

PARTNERSHIP WITH THE BAY AREA REGIONAL HEALTH INEQUITIES INITIATIVE (BARHII) Designed a data disaggregation plan for Pacific Islanders and will expand across all 10-counties in the Bay Area.

Established first regional Data sub-committee workgroup conversation across all three-county leadership and the new addition of Santa Clara County as director Sara Cody agree to join in this data disaggregated initiative and appointed one epidemiologist from each county to be a part of the Data committee to design a plan. This is facilitated by BARHII with guidance from Taskforce Date sub-committee.

(Housing | Maternal, Child and Infant Health | Data | Behavioral and Mental Health | Population Health) as a result. of 5 regional convening with the three counties

RELEASED OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDER PRIORITY RECOMMENDATIONS

Established the first regional sub-committee workgroup with all three-counties leadership to address Maternal Child Health recommendations.