Health of Hawaiians begins at childhood

The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. That familiar sentiment, expressed in the spirit of hope, is a sober acknowledgement of a problem in order to launch needed improvement.

It’s that mindset that now must squarely face a new study by the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs: “Kaneho‘alani: Transforming the Health of Native Hawaiian Men.” The 45-page report, which overlays cultural and historic factors onto the well-being of Native Hawaiian males today, found their health to be substantially worse than other men here. The spectrum of dismal findings include: higher rates of obesity, asthma, mental health problems and cancer deaths, as well as arrests and confinement.

The grim study provides context to the plethora of problems. It links many of the problems to the historical changes here after Western contact in the late 1700s, then the influx of immigrants that forever altered the cultural landscape for Native Hawaiians.

This valuable deeper understanding, though, can’t become an excuse against betterment in today’s world. Living in the present means dealing with manifestations of the past. Many Native Hawaiians today are active in the righteous cause of indigenous self-determination, and it’s that sense of empowerment that also must be applied to overcoming poor health conditions of today’s kane.

A crucial part of the complex remedy must be culturally aware early intervention — to break negative cycles at the earliest ages, ranging from eating habits, to poverty, to child abuse, to educational achievement. That will entail outreach, support and interventions for struggling families, much sooner rather than later. And this nurturing of healthier habits and behaviors must be rooted in ohana.

Early childhood education, for instance, can provide important basics for later success in learning as well as socialization and structure. Further, providing such learning in culturally attuned ways can be a lifelong boon.

“Tutu and Me,” for example, is an innovative traveling preschool program serving Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians statewide. This worthwhile program sends teams of early education educators into underserved communities, where they facilitate curriculum organized around learning themes and cultural aspects. Kamehameha Schools, along with the U.S. Department of Education, helps fund this program — and it’s a solid example of a Native Hawaiian entity being involved in “holistic interventions” as urged in the report. Other vested Hawaiian agencies must be equally engaged in supportive solutions.

More attention must also focus at the youth level. “Juvenile crime can be seen as both an outcome of early childhood social determinates of health, and a factor contributing to adult barriers to well-being,” the report noted.

Alarmingly, between 2003 and 2012, Native Hawaiian youths accounted for the highest numbers of juvenile arrests and of those confined to the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility (55 percent of the total). Intervention investments at this critical juncture, at the cusp of adulthood, could significantly change the trajectory of lives for the better. The most recent incarceration reports available, in 2012, found that Native Hawaiians were woefully overrepresented in prisons here: While just 17.7 percent of Hawaii’s adult population, they comprised 37 percent of the male prison population.

“In many ways, the situation looks grim,” the Kaneho‘alani study concluded. “Native Hawaiians are more likely to come from single-parent homes; have high rates of child abuse and neglect; a higher prevalence of being overweight or obese with the highest risk factors associated with obesity; and with high rates of tobacco use.

“Complicating a deep understanding of health is the absence of holistic research that would otherwise complement already-existing information. There is much that we do not know.”

Just so. But, there is much that is known, and that information must galvanize action toward improved well-being.

There are two paths of response to Kaneho‘alani’s dismal news: One is the trap of perpetual victimhood; the other, more constructive path comes via empowerment. It’s this path that OHA, other vested agencies, families and the men themselves, must forge if they want to see Native Hawaiians not merely survive, but truly thrive.