CT Health Disparities Project Logo“Health disparities refer to the differences in disease risk, incidence, prevalence, morbidity, and mortality and other adverse conditions, such as unequal access to quality health care, that exist among specific population groups in Connecticut. Population groups may be based on race, ethnicity, age, gender, socioeconomic position, immigrant status, sexual minority status, language, disability, homelessness, and geographic area of residence. Specifically, health disparities refer to those avoidable differences in health that result from cumulative social disadvantages” (Stratton, Hynes and Nepaul. 2007. Issue Brief: Defining Health Disparities. Hartford, CT: Connecticut Department of Public Health).
 
The Connecticut Health Disparities Project was a two-year effort by the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) to improve the statewide infrastructure for documenting, reporting, and addressing health disparities among racial and ethnic minority residents of our state. It was supported by a generous grant from the Connecticut Health Foundation. The four objectives of this project are:
  • To evaluate the collection of racial, ethnic and other relevant sociodemographic information across all Department of Public Health databases, and make recommendations for the improvement of data collection;
  • To coordinate agency planning objectives related to the elimination of health disparities among racial/ethnic subpopulations;
  • To publish a comprehensive Connecticut health disparities surveillance report; and
  • To provide leadership in the development of a statewide network of researchers and policy analysts focused on the measurement of health disparities in Connecticut.
The project was structured as a cooperative agreement with the Connecticut Health Foundation, a non-profit funding agency which has selected racial and ethnic health disparities as one of its three program priority areas. Connecticut Health Disparities Project staff at DPH worked closely with other statewide partners to carry out these project objectives. A long-term goal is to build sustainability of this two-year initiative in collaboration with our statewide partners.
 
All of the products and publications of the project, such as Issue Briefs, presentations and reports, are found below. Other health disparities-related information is available at the DPH Health Disparities web page.
 
The Connecticut Health Disparities Project (2006-2008) was staffed by epidemiologists Ava Nepaul, M.A., M.P.H and Alison Stratton, Ph.D.; and directed by Margaret M. Hynes, Ph.D., M.P.H.
 
Publications
 
 
Presentations
 
 
Issue Briefs/Fact Sheets 
 
Papers of the Month
 
Each month, The Connecticut Health Disparities Project selects a “Paper of the Month” that reflects current areas of interest of people involved in Project activities. These papers are chosen for the “food for thought” they present for people involved in health disparities topics [and should not be construed as an endorsement of, or agreement with, the authors' arguments].
 
 
 
 

Academic Advisory Group
 

The Connecticut Health Disparities Project Academic Advisory Group (PDF 30KB) provides a listing of the advisory group members and their affiliations.
 
 
Miscellaneous
 
 
 
For more information, please contact:
dphhealthequity@ct.gov
Connecticut Department of Public Health
Office of Health Equity
860-509-7140