In an effort to document health disparities among ethnic and racial groups, the Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) engaged the Center for Health Information Management and Evaluation (CHIME) at the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to assemble data on Missouri's minority populations.

MFH provides this information with three intentions; first, to create a baseline of data for Hispanic and African American health indicators in Missouri; second, to encourage continued and expanded collection and analysis of health status data for this population; and third, to provide a jumping off point for programs seeking to reduce health disparities. We hope these documents will expand the understanding of health disparities in our state and will provide a sound basis for developing programs to improve the overall health status of Missouri residents.

Health Disparities Reports Available for Download:

Data Book 2: Hispanics
Although this population has grown significantly in the past 10 years, Hispanics still constitute a relatively small percentage of Missouri's overall residents. Therefore, collecting health data for the Hispanic population has been difficult due to a relatively low number of incidents for many health indicators used by CHIME. This publication presents the first health indicator data for Missouri's Hispanic residents and compares those data to both whites and African Americans in Missouri.

Date: Spring 2005

View the Entire Report (1.8MB file)
View by Individual Section: Intro | Socio-Economic Factors | Maternal and Child Health | Injuries Treated in Hospitals | Emergency Room Visits | Deaths | Glossary and Endnotes

Data Book 1: African Americans
This publication presents the findings of the CHIME analysis on health disparities between Missouri's African Americans and whites based on key health indicators. It also introduces the reader to techniques for accessing the new functions of the Community Data Profiles on the DHSS Web site, which allow public users to generate charts and trend line graphs on a series of indicators, by selected counties, or for the state as a whole.

Date: Fall 2004

View the Entire Report (2.8 MB file)
View by Individual Section: Intro | Socio-Economic Factors | Maternal and Child Health | Communicable Diseases | Sexually Transmitted Diseases | Injuries Treated in Hospital | Emergency Room Visits | Deaths | Glossary and Endnotes