11Sep

Sapna NYC Collaborates with DOHMH to Raise Awareness on Lead Poisoning in NYC

Sapna NYC collaborated with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to raise awareness about lead exposure and prevention in NYC’s South Asian community.

New York City’s South Asian children and adults are especially at risk for lead poisoning. A 2016 study found South Asian children in the city were six times more likely to have high blood levels than children citywide, and adults were four times more likely to have high levels.

Lead is a harmful metal that can cause serious health problems in both children and adults. When exposed to lead, children can develop learning and behavior problems. In adults, lead exposure can increase the risk of miscarriage in pregnant women and infertility in both men and women. In addition to lead paint and occupational lead hazards, poisonings in the South Asian community have been associated with the use of traditional consumer products.

Sapna NYC staff and community leaders worked together to spread information on lead poisoning, encourage community members to get blood lead tests and discourage the use of certain cultural products that contain lead. In addition to the Bronx, Sapna staff traveled to Brooklyn and Queens to give workshops.

Sapna NYC also formed a Lead Action Group made up of community members who distributed informational material, brought new community members to workshops, helped with putting these workshops together, and created a video on the various cultural products to avoid and what to replace them with instead.

For more information and resources, visit Sapna’s lead website at https://sapnanyclead.wordpress.com/