Although chronic diseases are on the rise among the South Asian population in BC during the pandemic, there is little discussion on this topic.

“There needs to be an urgent call of action on chronic illness like diabetes and hypertension for South Asians, particularly amidst COVID when we saw dramatic health disparities. Part of this is patients need to be empowered to take ownership of their health through integrative, culturally effective means,” says Garg.

Top healthcare professionals and yoga experts will look at how integrated thinking to integrated medicine may lower the burden of chronic diseases this month. Canada India Network Society Conference looks at leading factors for the dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases for British Columbia’s South Asian population at its annual conference held June 18 – 20 on Zoom. Some of these factors for causing this dramatic spike include underlying chronic illness, culturally ineffective health system gaps, and lack of data / analysis.

“Chronic illness is complex and intersectional and includes a plethora of social and behavioural factors and need to be understood through the lens of social determinants of health,” says Dr. Arun Garg, founder of Canada India Network Society (CINS).

So far, the more than 250 attendees have registered include researchers, clinicians, public health providers, health innovation professionals, public policy advisors, health care professionals, physicians, health care associations, and government agencies.

Day 1 - Lowering the Burden of Chronic Disease and Integrative Thinking for Sustainable Health Post-COVID

Day 2 - Voices from the Trenches - projects and innovations for a healthy civil society and economic recovery

Day 3 - Experiential Yoga and its integrative health impact

This year’s conference will make recommendations on how to improve health equity for South Asians by working with the government to focus on research, advocacy and developing a health strategy specific to South Asians. Past conferences have resulted in the establishment of Fraser Health’s South Asian Health Institute (SAHI) and the advocacy program SEHAT, which focuses on community-based outreach partners with South Asian places of worship, and the Leadership in India started a partnership (LEADS) with Consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organizations (CAHO) for health providers in India to transform healthcare leadership using the five principles of LEADS Global (www.leadsglobal.ca). The program is widely used in Canada but has been culturally adapted to support healthcare in India and urgently needed as COVID has demonstrated.