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Special AJPH Collections Page highlights lessons learned in addressing COVID-19-related health disparities and advancing health equity through CDC grant initiative

Date: Aug 28 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: APHA Media Relations

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed critical inequities in the nation’s public health system that put vulnerable populations at higher risk for unnecessary illness, injury, and death. A new supplement from the American Journal of Public Health highlights how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s grant, National Initiative to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities Among Populations at High-Risk and Underserved, Including Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations and Rural Communities to the National Network of Public Health Institutes—addresses those inequities.

The AJPH online Collections Page, “CDC’s Initiative to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities: Lessons Learned,” delves into promising practices and lessons learned in addressing COVID-19-related health disparities and advancing health equity through strategies funded by the initiative. The Collections Page will serve as a preview to the full supplement issue, publishing on September 18th, 2024.

This unique grant focused on various social determinants of health—the ways a person’s environment can impact their health and quality of life—as they related to COVID-19. These included obstacles such as transportation, language barriers, and environmental conditions, among other factors, that exacerbated COVID-19-related health disparities.

“The COVID-19 Health Disparities Grant was CDC’s largest investment to date focused specifically on reducing health disparities. The grant’s flexibility for allocating funds allowed recipients to direct emergency response services where their communities needed them most and to lay the foundation for long-term resilience,” said Dr. Leslie Dauphin, CDC Public Health Infrastructure Center Director.

Flexible funding from the COVID-19 Health Disparities Grant gave health departments the tools they needed to establish essential capabilities to address ongoing health disparities, strengthen public health infrastructure by enhancing the foundational capabilities needed to address future health emergencies and threats.

The results of the initiative and the successes brought on by the grant in addressing health equity in communities across the United States demonstrate how robust public health can be when communities invest in public health infrastructure. These investments not only address immediate needs, but they also put long-term protections in place to protect the health of all communities. 

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This issue was supported by funds made available to the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) from CDC’s National Center for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Public Health Infrastructure and Workforce through cooperative agreement OT18-1802, Strengthening Public Health Systems and Services Through National Partnerships to Improve and Protect the Nation’s Health award #6NU38OT000303-04-02. The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of NNPHI, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or the U.S. government. 

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The American Public Health Association champions optimal, equitable health and well-being for all. With our broad-based member community and 150-year perspective, we influence federal policy to improve the public’s health. Learn more at www.apha.org.