Without data equity, we won't achieve health equity. Enter the Data Equity Center.
Health equity is achieved when every person has the opportunity to attain their full health potential. Progress towards health equity requires data to measure and track, not only the health of communities and individuals, but the barriers or disadvantages that limit the potential to attain health and wellness including socially-determined circumstances. Without a doubt, high-quality, representative data about communities and individuals is a key component to achieving health equity.
In 2022, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR) received a $1.25 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to establish a Data Equity Center that will further promote data equity.
Led by AJ Scheitler, EdD, director of the National Network of Health Surveys, and Ninez A. Ponce, PhD, MPP, director of the UCLA CHPR, the Data Equity Center will focus on equity in all aspects of the design, collection, production, and dissemination of population health data.
Leveraging UCLA CHPR’s extensive experience in centering equity through key programs like the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) Data Policy Lab, and the National Network of Health Surveys, the Data Equity Center will promote data equity by providing technical assistance, expertise, and resources to increase the representation in and access to data for marginalized populations.
The National Network of Health Surveys, a group of more than 200 health survey leaders, data custodians, and users committed to advancing data projects across the country, will share their collective knowledge and expertise in health data collection, processing, and dissemination, and help the Data Equity Center become a shared learning and training hub for building fairness in data across all health-related sectors.
The overall goal of the Data Equity Center is to promote data equity in data sets impacting health determinants by offering resources that will inform, support, and promote data systems becoming more representative, inclusive, and collaborative with the communities they serve. The Center will provide technical assistance, expertise, and resources to increase the representation in and access to data for marginalized populations, and will foster a shared vision of data equity, developing common standards in technical methodology to improve data equity, and delivering technical assistance through multiple channels to share knowledge and aid data custodians in improving data equity.
