About Us

The South Asian-Centered Heart Health Education (SACHHE) project is a community-based participatory research project rooted in the local Twin Cities South Asian community! We are exploring how community partnerships and culturally-tailored education around nutrition, movement, and mindfulness can help improve heart health by:

• raising awareness about heart health disparities amongst South Asians

• building lasting and manageable lifestyle changes

• advocating for policy changes to address upstream social factors contributing to heart health inequities in South Asian communities and fund further research examining these disparities

Why?

• Heart disease = #1 cause of death worldwide

• 60% of patients with heart disease around the world are South Asian 

  • • • • (even though only about 25-30% of the world's population is South Asian)

• People with heart disease also have a heightened risk of diabetes, other cardiovascular disease, and metabolic syndrome (and vice versa)

• Many South Asians present with heart disease at younger ages than the general population and their disease presentation tends to be more severe

• While the information above is important to be aware of, we should be mindful of not falling into the myths and traps of race-based medicine!

  • • • • • There are several longitudinal studies that are exploring the many possible varied causes of these heart health disparities in the South Asian population:

            • • • Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America Study (MASALA Study)

                • OurHealth Study

                • Stanford South Asian Translational Heart Initiative (SSATHI)

                • South Asian Healthy Lifestyle Initiative (SAHELI)