UCSF Health Atlas, an interactive mapping tool for measuring health inequities that debuted just as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, is relaunching this month with data from all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, along with new climate and other data.
The mapping tool allows users to explore the relationship between more than 120 variables from more than 20 data sources – everything from health outcomes to food insecurity, education and historical redlining – and visualize them at seven different geographic levels including census tract, ZIP code and congressional district.
These data will be critical for our partners across the country to better understand neighborhoods and resolve local inequities.”
The Health Atlas team partnered with the Health Equity Action Network, a national consortium of 11 research centers that work to reduce health disparities, by expanding the data nationally and including measures of structural racism and neighborhood deprivation that affect people’s health and longevity.
The UC Center for Climate, Health and Equity, which is housed at UCSF and tackles health issues linked to climate change, contributed detailed measures for California, including air pollution, heat and extreme precipitation. The center plans to expand the database to display climate-related data on the Health Atlas for all 50 states in 2025.
“We didn’t build this map for clicks and likes. We built this tool so that people can identify and reduce health disparities in the communities that are important to them,” said Debby Oh, PhD, a data scientist in the UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics who is leading the Health Atlas project. “These data will be critical for our partners across the country to better understand neighborhoods and resolve local inequities.”
When it comes to health, place matters
During the pandemic, the Health Atlas allowed users to curate and visualize data at the neighborhood level and make evidence-based decisions. That helped researchers and policymakers better understand how different communities were being impacted by the pandemic, and how socioeconomic inequities and other variables played a role in disparate outcomes.
Since the initial launch, the Health Atlas team added new data to the website, allowing users to map how discriminatory housing practices in certain neighborhoods have impacted present-day health outcomes.
The number of detailed variables, such as neighborhood income inequality, public transit stops, or population with limited English proficiency allows users to research and better target interventions for such health issues as cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Using the Atlas
The interactive map can help you explore neighborhood-level characteristics and see how they relate at a population level.
Health Atlas goes national
Health Atlas has been able to expand nationally by relying primarily on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, the PLACES project by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Environmental Justice Screen. The Health Equity Action Network provided much of the funding for the national expansion.
“Over the past four years, the Health Atlas has been a valuable resource for researchers across California, and we are proud to be able to make this resource freely available to others across the U.S.,” said Mark Pletcher, MD, MPH, who chairs the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and leads the Population Health Data Initiative, which manages Health Atlas.
By partnering with the Health Atlas team, the Center for Climate, Health and Equity aims to support and develop new research linking climate exposure with various health outcomes and geographic factors.
“Generating this evidence is crucial to helping us build climate resilience, especially in communities most impacted by climate stressors,” said Tarik Benmarhnia, research co-chair of the center, which includes all 10 UC campuses.
Partners: UCSF Population Health Data Initiative, Stamen Design, DREAM Lab, UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Health Equity Action Network; UCSF EaRTH Center; UC Center for Climate, Health and Equity; and Temple University Center for Asian Health.
Funding: Initial project funding was provided by the UCSF School of Medicine Dean’s Office. Additional funding was provided by the UCSF Population Health Data Initiative; Health Equity Action Network (U24MD017250); UCSF EaRTH Center (P30ES030284); UC Center for Climate, Health and Equity; and Temple University Center for Asian Health (R01 MD017521).
When it comes to health, place matters
During the pandemic, the Health Atlas allowed users to curate and visualize data at the neighborhood level and make evidence-based decisions. That helped researchers and policymakers better understand how different communities were being impacted by the pandemic, and how socioeconomic inequities and other variables played a role in disparate outcomes.
Since the initial launch, the Health Atlas team added new data to the website, allowing users to map how discriminatory housing practices in certain neighborhoods have impacted present-day health outcomes.
The number of detailed variables, such as neighborhood income inequality, public transit stops, or population with limited English proficiency allows users to research and better target interventions for such health issues as cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Using the Atlas
The interactive map can help you explore neighborhood-level characteristics and see how they relate at a population level.
Health Atlas goes national
Health Atlas has been able to expand nationally by relying primarily on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, the PLACES project by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Environmental Justice Screen. The Health Equity Action Network provided much of the funding for the national expansion.
“Over the past four years, the Health Atlas has been a valuable resource for researchers across California, and we are proud to be able to make this resource freely available to others across the U.S.,” said Mark Pletcher, MD, MPH, who chairs the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and leads the Population Health Data Initiative, which manages Health Atlas.
By partnering with the Health Atlas team, the Center for Climate, Health and Equity aims to support and develop new research linking climate exposure with various health outcomes and geographic factors.
“Generating this evidence is crucial to helping us build climate resilience, especially in communities most impacted by climate stressors,” said Tarik Benmarhnia, research co-chair of the center, which includes all 10 UC campuses.
Partners: UCSF Population Health Data Initiative, Stamen Design, DREAM Lab, UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Health Equity Action Network; UCSF EaRTH Center; UC Center for Climate, Health and Equity; and Temple University Center for Asian Health.
Funding: Initial project funding was provided by the UCSF School of Medicine Dean’s Office. Additional funding was provided by the UCSF Population Health Data Initiative; Health Equity Action Network (U24MD017250); UCSF EaRTH Center (P30ES030284); UC Center for Climate, Health and Equity; and Temple University Center for Asian Health (R01 MD017521).