The 2007 Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Health Summit: Navigating Towards Health & Well Being will bring together healthcare professionals and advocates, researchers, policymakers and government representatives to address the need for capacity building, overall health disparities and other unmet health needs of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities on the continental U.S., in Hawai'i and the Pacific Basin, and develop strategies and solutions to improve the access to, and quality of, healthcare for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

With more than 0.3 percent of the total U.S. population, these groups have one of the highest rates of uninsured, diabetes and other chronic diseases; are among the lowest representation in health professions; and poorest outcome of cancer detection and treatment.

Available research and studies continue to lump these groups with the "Asian American" or "other" categories, thus masking the true health status of this population. Community-based organizations would like to have funding provided directly to them to increase their organizational capacity to better and more effectively address these critical issues themselves within their own communities.