Not much research has been done on Nepalese people residing in Pacific Northwest as a whole. Pew Research Center reports that Nepalese communities are among the fastest-growing population to immigrate to the United States, doubling in size between 2000 and 2015. We have an estimated 88% foreign-born shares. However, only a quarter (24%) of Nepalese people owned their own homes in 2015. On average we make $43,500 which is way below the median household income for all Americans. This makes it more difficult to seek healthcare when so many of us cannot afford healthcare. This is why it is crucial that we do get visibility in public health efforts such as the COVID-19 relief efforts, as well as increasing influenza vaccination.

The biggest barrier for Nepalese organizations and communities is the lack of representation and accurate accrual of demographic information to better assist with any public health concerns, both present, and future.

For this project, we have wanted to understand vaccine acceptance as well as healthcare needs for our community to better inform our project and organizational activities. We have started a grassroots level data gathering attending Nepali functions. We hope that our community will understand the importance of data representation, especially through these public health efforts at a local and federal level.