Connecticut Health Foundation Grants $539k To DPH to Address Health Disparities

HARTFORD — The Connecticut Health Foundation (CHF) has awarded the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) a two-year grant in the amount of $539,317 to improve the statewide infrastructure for documenting, reporting, and addressing health disparities among racial and ethnic minority residents of the state.

This new endeavor, the Connecticut Health Disparities Project, is designed to collect and evaluate relevant sociodemographic information from across DPH databases with an eye toward improving data collection, and to coordinate all DPH planning objectives related to the elimination of health disparities. Additional objectives include the publication of a comprehensive Connecticut health disparities surveillance report and the development of a statewide network of researchers and policy analysts focused on the measurement of health disparities in Connecticut in order to sustain this effort over the long term.

“It is a priority for both DPH and the Connecticut Health Foundation to find ways to overcome the barriers that prevent our state’s residents from getting the care they need,” said DPH Commissioner J. Robert Galvin, MD, MPH. “This partnership is tailor-made to set us on the path to doing just that, and DPH is grateful to CHF for the opportunity.”

DPH Epidemiologist Margaret M. Hynes, PhD, MPH, has been named to direct the Connecticut Health Disparities Project, under the supervision of the DPH Planning Branch. She will oversee the production of a Connecticut health disparities report, as well as a DPH database inventory report.

Additional partners participating in the Connecticut Health Disparities Project include the DPH Office of Multicultural Health, the Connecticut Multicultural Health Advisory Commission, the Connecticut Center for Eliminating Health Disparities Among Latinos, and the University of Connecticut, as well as other state agencies and associations that collect health status and service data.

The Connecticut Health Foundation is the state’s largest independent, nonprofit grant-making foundation dedicated to improving the health of the people of Connecticut through systemic change, program innovation, and health policy analysis. Since it was established in July 1999, CHF has awarded 286 plus grants in 39 cities and towns totaling close to $23 million in three priority areas — children’s mental health, racial and ethnic health disparities, and oral health.