The Community Health Profiles contain over 50 measures of neighborhood health
There were improvements in several high priority areas, including declining rates of uninsured New Yorkers, teen births, sugary drink consumption, smoking, new HIV diagnoses, and premature mortality
New data include measures such as accessibility to healthy food, helpful neighbors, and on-time high school graduation
January 11, 2019 – TheHealth Department today released the 2018 Community Health Profiles, analyzing health in all 59 community districts across the city. The profiles feature over 50 health measures for each city neighborhood from a population breakdown, to neighborhood conditions, to health outcomes. These Community Health Profiles, last released in 2015, provide comparative information on major health issues including HIV, smoking, and health insurance, and serve as a critical resource for improving the health of communities.
Since the profiles were last published in 2015, the Health Department saw improvements in several high priority areas, including declining rates of uninsured New Yorkers, teen births, sugary drink consumption, smoking, new HIV diagnoses, and premature mortality. Citywide, the percentage of uninsured adults dropped from a three-year average (2011-2013) of 20 percent to a two-year average (2015-2016) of 12 percent. Although a marked improvement, disparities in health insurance coverage remain among low-income and immigrant communities. The City continues its efforts to partner with community organizations to maximize neighborhood level outreach, and encourages enrollment through the GetCoveredNYC multimedia, multilingual health insurance enrollment campaigns to help eradicate these inequities. Smoking and sugary drink consumption, two priority areas, also decreased. Smoking among New Yorkers has decreased from a three-year average (2011-2013) of 15 percent to a two-year average (2015-2016) of 14 percent. Daily sugary drink consumption decreased from a three-year average (2011-2013) of 27% to a two-year average (2015-2016) of 23 percent.
To create a broader picture of neighborhood health, the agency also included new positive indicators that look at a community’s wellness and social connections. The new measures include on-time high school graduation, helpful neighbors, and homes with air conditioning. While the profiles show that there are many neighborhoods in very good health, significant health inequities persist among many New York City neighborhoods, such as the 11-year gap in life expectancy between Upper East Side and Brownsville, based on 2015 life expectancy data. Data show that 54 percent of deaths in Brownsville could have been averted if it had the same income as the wealthiest neighborhoods, based on five-year average mortality rate and poverty rate data (2011-2015). Complete set of 59 Community Health Profiles.
“The Health Department’s Community Health Profiles are a comprehensive representation of neighborhood health that includes new and unique indicators, such as having helpful neighbors and on-time high school graduation rate, which represents a shift in the Health Department’s narrative about what makes health and what contributes to the well-being of New Yorkers,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot. “These profiles provide important information about the particular needs of different communities; they will inform policy making and programming to help eliminate health disparities among neighborhoods in New York City.”
Other important data points from the 2018 Community Health Profiles:
There is a Community Health Profile for every community district in the city. Every profile begins with a “Who We Are” section, which outlines the population in that district with a breakdown by ethnicity and age. The profile is then broken down into six data sections:
Over the coming weeks and months, the Health Department will meet with community organizations, medical providers, community boards, and elected officials to present the profiles and discuss health issues that each community is facing. New Yorkers can also get the latest information on their neighborhoods by going to nyc.gov/healthand searching for “Community Health Profiles.”
For these Community Health Profiles, the Health Department used community districts established by local law in 1975. The community districts correspond to local Community Boards. The Health Department used several data sources to produce these Community Health Profiles. These included the U.S. Census American Community Survey, the NYC Health Department Community Health Survey, an annual, random-digit-dial telephone survey of approximately 10,000 adults conducted each year in New York City, NYC Health Department Vital Statistics, the New York State Department of Health Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System, which provides hospitalization data in New York City, the NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey, the NYC Community Air Survey, NYC Health Department Citywide Immunization Registry, NYC Health Department Communicable Disease Surveillance Registry, and the NYC Health Department HIV/AIDS Surveillance Registry. Other data were provided by the NYC Department of Transportation, the NYC Department of Education, the NYC Department of Corrections, the NYU Furman Center, and the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.
The Health Department has implemented programs and initiatives that aim to improve underserved communities:
CHE’s Health Action Centers work to address the root causes of health inequities in East Harlem, the South Bronx, and Central and East Brooklyn. The Action Centers have partnerships with medical practices, community organizations and residents, as well as other City agencies to improve conditions for New York City residents and eliminate the systemic causes of health inequities, or unfair and unjust differences in health outcomes.
###
#005-19
MEDIA CONTACT:
Stephanie Buhle/Danielle De Souza:
(347) 396-4177, pressoffice@health.nyc.gov