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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Health disparities

VA Health Care: Office of Rural Health Efforts and Recommendations for Improvement
Presents an evaluation of the Veterans Health Administration's Office of Rural Health (ORH). Discusses the methods the ORH uses to improve healthcare quality and access for rural veterans, such as initiatives to expand VHA services to rural veterans and funding research to improve the healthcare quality in rural areas. Evaluates the ORH's efforts and makes recommendations for improvement.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 01/2024
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Community-Acquired Staphylococcus Aureus Skin and Soft Tissue Infection Risk Assessment Using Hotspot Analysis and Risk Maps: The Case of California Emergency Departments
Using California emergency department data between 2016 and 2019, evaluates the association between risk for Staphylococcus aureus skin and soft tissue infections with various neighborhood characteristics such as population, poverty, and healthcare access shortage measures. Discusses rural disparities.
Author(s): Brittany L. Morgan Bustamante, Laura Fejerman, Larissa May, Beatriz Martínez-Lopéz
Citation: BMC Public Health, 24, 123
Date: 01/2024
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County-Level Colorectal Cancer Screening Rates on Colorectal Cancer Survival in the State of Georgia: Does County-Level Rurality Matter?
Evaluates 5-year colorectal cancer (CRC) survival rates in Georgia by county-level rurality and CRC screening rate, utilizing 2004-2010 Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program data. Discusses rural-urban CRC mortality disparities, and describes the influence of CRC screening on mortality.
Author(s): Meng-Han Tsai, Steven S. Coughlin, Jorge Cortes
Citation: Cancer Medicine, 13(1)
Date: 01/2024
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100 Years of Impact - Advancing Health and Hope for Everyone, Everywhere: American Heart Association Annual Report, 2023-2024
Reports on the American Heart Association's activities, priorities, and impact in the years 2023-2024. Highlights initiatives and funding focused on addressing rural health disparities and access to care.
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organization: American Heart Association
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America's Children: Special Issue 2024, Maternal and Infant Health and Well-Being
Examines the factors predicting maternal and infant well-being. Breaks down data by a number of measures, including food insecurity, vaccinations, maternal health, prenatal care, and more. Select data on Tdap vaccinations, smoking during pregnancy, adequacy of prenatal care, and maternal mortality are available by metro versus nonmetro location.
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organization: Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics
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Eliminating Tobacco-Related Disease and Death: Addressing Disparities - A Report of the Surgeon General
Report explores disparities in tobacco use and tobacco use-related health outcomes. Identifies tobacco-related disparities and the various demographic groups that still use tobacco products at a higher rate than the national average, such as people below the poverty level, workers in manual labor or service industry jobs, and people who live in rural communities, among others. Highlights strategies for curtailing the expansion of tobacco use and details promising interventions for reducing tobacco-related health disparities.
Additional links: Executive Summary, Full Report
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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America's Health Rankings 2024 Health of Women and Children Report
Provides a national and state-by-state overview of the health of infants, children, and women of reproductive age. Compares rural-urban differences in mental health conditions, education, obesity, and smoking among reproductive-age women at the national level. Includes maps that show concentrated disadvantage by county within each state.
Additional links: Concentrated Disadvantage County-Level Maps, State Summaries
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organization: United Health Foundation
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The Dialogue: Rural and Remote Disaster Behavioral Health
Journal issue discusses the behavioral health needs and challenges during disasters in rural and remote communities. Highlights the mental health challenges that co-occur with disasters such as extreme heat, floods, droughts and other disasters in rural communities and details strategies for addressing them.
Citation: The Dialogue, 19(4)
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organization: SAMHSA Disaster Technical Assistance Center
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The Social Vulnerability of Farmworker Communities in North Central Florida: Challenges and Opportunities for Mapping Vulnerable Populations
Describes an emergency preparedness project to develop social vulnerability indicators and conduct geospatial mapping analysis of the places that farmworkers live and work in north central Florida. Discusses collaborations with farmworker-focused community based organizations and community advisory boards, ethics, and public health implications of the work. Includes recommendations to public health workers and policymakers interested in farmworker communities.
Author(s): Miranda Carver Martin, Amr Abd-Elrahman, Paul Monaghan
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organization: Natural Hazards Center
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Oral Health in Alabama: Unveiling the Burden and Pathways to Improvement
Reports on oral health in Alabama, highlighting issues across the lifespan, the relationship between oral health and other health conditions, protective factors, workforce, Federally Qualified Health Centers, and more. Discusses oral health disparities for particular groups including rural residents. Includes county-level data.
Author(s): Zachary W. Schulz
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organizations: Alabama Department of Public Health, Oral Health Office
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