The Asian Pacific American community includes more than 100 languages/dialects and some 45 different ethnic subgroups, complicating the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.
It is three in the morning and Philip, 27, wakes up from a nightmare that he soon forgets. Vivid dreams and dizziness are recurring experiences, side effects he attributes to taking Atripla, a pill he consumes daily because he has AIDS.
Currently, more than 4,000 people of Asian descent are living with HIV/AIDS in California. But some healthcare workers say cultural values and pressures in the community often complicate dealing with the disease.
The sun rose over the horizon a few hours before 62-year-old Sung Nguyen stood dockside with tears steadily flowing down his cheeks. The new day brought the same stress of being out of work with few prospects. The Vietnamese American fisherman watched his nearby docked boat, wrapped partially in "Dream Girls" movie posters, as it rocked gently in a Biloxi, Mississippi harbor.