CDC Awards $24.5 Million to Hawaiʻi State DOH To Address COVID-19 Health Disparities

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health $24.5 million to address COVID-19-related health disparities. The funding, part of a $2.25 billion nationwide investment, seeks to advance health equity by expanding state, local, US territorial and freely associated state health department capacity and services.

This is the CDC’s largest investment to date to improve health equity in the United States, according to a news release from the US Department of Health and Human Services.

“These grants demonstrate our steadfast commitment to keeping equity at the center of everything we do,” said CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH. “They are an important step in our unwavering efforts to strengthen our communities’ readiness for public health emergencies — and to helping everyone in America have equal opportunities for health.”

The intended outcomes of these grants are to:

• reduce COVID-19-related health disparities
• improve and increase testing and contact tracing among populations that are at higher risk and are underserved, including racial and ethnic minority groups and people living in rural communities
• improve state, local, US territorial and freely associated state health department capacity and services to prevent and control COVID-19 infection.

“The pandemic has laid bare longstanding health inequities, and health departments are on the front line of efforts to address those inequities,” said José T. Montero, M.D., Director of CDC’s Center for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support. “These grants will provide these health departments with much needed support to address disparities in communities that need it most.”

The state, local and territorial health departments receiving the grants can be found here. To learn more about CDC COVID-19 State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Funding, visit this page.

To stop the spread of COVID-19 and move toward greater health equity, CDC continues to work with populations at higher risk, underserved and disproportionately affected to ensure resources are available to maintain and manage physical and mental health, including easy access to information, affordable testing, and medical and mental health care.

This initiative is funded through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021, (P.L. 116-260).