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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Poverty

March of Dimes Maternity Care Deserts Dashboard
Depicts county-level access to maternity care, access to hospitals with obstetric care or birth centers, and access to obstetric providers across the U.S. Allows user to select for demographic information such as age, race/ethnicity, education and household composition, and prevalence of health conditions and behaviors. Includes data on total births by county.
Sponsoring organization: March of Dimes
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Minority Health Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)
Data tool that maps social vulnerability at the county-level, which indicates communities that would most likely require support during an emergency, natural disaster, or public health crisis. Data dashboard can present data by state and can be customized based on level of vulnerability according to 6 themes, including socioeconomic status, household composition and disability status, language and minority status, healthcare infrastructure, medical vulnerability, and housing type and transportation.
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health
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Children Living in Poverty Even in Healthiest Counties
Offers data on child poverty by race and ethnicity at the county level based on 2019-2021 County Health Rankings. Provides a map comparing rates of child poverty for the healthiest county per state to the national average, and offers a searchable table for all counties. Discusses inequities in poverty and links between poverty and health.
Sponsoring organization: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps
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Rural-Urban Disparities in Cancer
Provides data and maps reflecting cancer incidence and mortality, comparing rural, nonmetro urban, and metro counties. Explores urban and rural disparities regarding cancer type, access to healthcare for rural residents, risk factors for cancer incidence, and preventative care.
Sponsoring organization: National Cancer Institute
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Distressed Communities Index Interactive Map
Mapping tool that applies the Economic Innovation Group's Distressed Communities Index (DCI) to searchable areas including counties, zip codes, and congressional districts. Ranks communities according to a 5-tier system from prosperous to distressed, offering a specific distress score and data on DCI factors including poverty rate, housing information, income, and education.
Sponsoring organization: Economic Innovation Group
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Community Resilience Estimates
Offers state and county profiles focused on community resilience, the capacity of community members to deal with and recover from a disaster and its related health, social, and economic impacts. Identifies risk factors for households and individuals, such as poverty level, unemployment, language barriers, and health status, and shares the risk factor results by county within each state and by census tract within each county. Also provides access to a supplemental data set focused on social vulnerability and equity.
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Census Bureau
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HRSA Map Tool
A map-based interface for viewing a variety of Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) programs and grant awards, as well as supporting data from other sources. Includes data for rural health areas, border counties, the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Initiative region, and more. Other items available to map include health workforce shortage areas, healthcare facility locations, and poverty data.
Sponsoring organization: Health Resources and Services Administration
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Multidimensional Index of Deep Disadvantage
Categorizes counties and cities based on an index that examines disadvantage based on health indicators, poverty, and social mobility data. Provides a profile for each county that includes its rural/urban status, population, and index-related indicators. Identifies the 100 most disadvantaged counties.
Additional links: Full Data Set, Understanding Communities of Deep Disadvantage: An Introduction
Sponsoring organizations: Princeton University, University of Michigan
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Delineating Rural Areas in the United States
A poster presentation identifying the common federal rural definitions useful for addressing rural-urban disparities. Demonstrates, by using population characteristics including poverty, uninsured, and disabled data, how each rural definition can affect the sensitivity of the disparity.
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
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Culture Care Connection: Rural Minnesotans
Provides information and data to help healthcare providers recognize and understand the importance of culture when providing healthcare to populations living in rural Minnesota. Discusses population characteristics, health disparities, social determinants of health, social diversity, diet, medical care, mental health, and leading causes of death in rural areas of the state.
Sponsoring organization: Stratis Health
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