Center for Health Equity

CHE encourages the use of data to raise consciousness and motivate action

We invite you to read and share the reports, data profiles and online tools intended to help everyone understand the state of health equity in our communities and the root causes of inequities. DPH programs provide materials that help highlight how community conditions affect health, and how systems, policies and practices have worked to advantage certain communities over others.

For more information about data and research efforts related to health equity and its root causes, please contact LACHealthEquity@ph.lacounty.gov.

CHE Data Efforts

CHE works internally with DPH programs to incorporate a health equity lens in data products and reports. We do this to ensure that DPH programs provide useful and inclusive data which is collected, analyzed and shared in ways that value lived experiences, is disaggregated to include the County's historically underrepresented groups and communities, and that allows these communities to use the data to inspire policy change and collective action across sectors. Examples of our data collaborative efforts include:

Past Efforts:

The DPH Data Advisory Council (DAC): an ad-hoc, cross-sector group comprised of organizational representatives and resident advocates from communities in LA County burdened with disproportionately poor health outcomes. The council meets to partner and collaborate with DPH data analysts around data collection, community engagement efforts, and best practices. The council also provides guidance on DPH data and reports to help ensure data visualizations, accurate framing and narratives that represent all communities and reflect their lived experiences. For more information on DAC click here.

Best Practices for Data Disaggregation Webinar: CHE worked with the Chief Science Office's Epidemiology and Data Coordination (EDC) Unit to host a data webinar on the importance of data disaggregation of underserved communities including the Asian Pacific Islander and LGBTQ+ communities. For more information on this data webinar click here.

Current Efforts:

Data, Public Policy and Research Hub: CHE has created an interactive PowerBI resource repository that is a navigable list of online health equity-related media around data, policy and research. The resource includes listings of journal articles, podcasts, policy and legislative reports, blog posts and other equity-related materials. The repository does not reflect DPH Standards of Practice or established policies, but instead is a collection of resources that DPH Staff and community members can easily access and explore equity topics, emerging data and research methodologies, community knowledge and in come cases, best practices that extend beyond DPH's official minimum standards. The entries have been curated and provide educational value around all equity-related issues. Click here for the interactive repository.

Technical Assistance: CHE is currently involved in providing technical assistance to DPH program research and epidemiology staff on various data projects to ensure the application of a health equity lens, accessible data visualization, and storytelling that lift community voices are incorporated in our data products and reporting. Check back soon for toolkits, reports and data fact sheets that document inequities in health and the opportunities necessary for health and well-being for various disaggregated socio-demographic groups and geographic communities in Los Angeles County. We extend our technical assistance to community-based organizations and members who need assistance in navigating DPH data, reports and resources. For more information about data and research efforts related to health equity and its root causes, please contact LACHealthEquity@ph.lacounty.gov.

Center for Health Equity Data Partnerships

DPH's Office of Planning Integration and Engagement (PIE) is responsible for building and managing multidisciplinary teams that focus on resource development, strategic planning and integration, community engagement, and education-sector partnerships and programming. PIE also leads the LA County Department of Public Health's efforts to strengthen collaboration across its 45 programs to maximize impact and advance equitable health outcomes.

The Planning Unit in PIE who oversees the Department of Public Health's strategic planning, collaborating with internal and external partners to create action-oriented plans that advance access to the community conditions and resources needed to thrive. CHE works closely with the PIE Planning Unit on the Community Health Equity Improvement Plan (CHEIP) which is a five-year strategic plan for DPH and community partners to collectively achieve health equity and build healthy communities.

DPH's Office of Health Assessment and Epidemiology (OHAE) ensures the availability of high-quality and comprehensive health data on the Los Angeles County population and to facilitate its use for public health assessment, policy development, and program planning and evaluation.

The Community Health Assessment Unit is part of OHAE and oversees the Los Angeles County Health Survey, which was initiated in 1997. This population-based survey periodically collects health data from a representative sample of Los Angeles County residents. Data are disseminated in various forms, including but not limited to aggregated data tables, reports and publications, and data sets for research purposes.

CHE is working closely with the new Social Epidemiology Unit (SEU) who work to monitor and examine the influence of structural and systemic social determinants on health outcomes in Los Angeles County. Stay tuned for upcoming collaborative data projects in this space!

CHE works in collaboration with the Chief Science Office (CSO) on data toolkits, data standards of practice, and in consultation with other CSO governance bodies to ensure that an equity lens is being considered and applied to data policies and governance over data products from DPH epidemiologists and researchers.

DPH's Institutional Review Board (IRB) is an independent oversight body of health professionals and community representatives housed in the Chief Science Office (CSO) and works to ensure all research and related activities (such as evaluation, needs assessments, non-legally mandated surveillance and some Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement projects) involving DPH, Department of Health Services (DHS) and certain Community-Based Organizations are carried out in accordance with the highest scientific and ethical standards and applicable federal and state regulations (45 CFR 46).

As part of an effort to prioritize health equity in Los Angeles County, IRB implemented the Health Equity Initiative (HEI). Through this initiative, the IRB is working to ensure that principles of health equity such as community engagement and cultural and linguistic inclusion are incorporated into the research, evaluation, and other data-gathering activities that are conducted by the Department and community partners.

To view a copy of the IRB Health Equity Standard of Practice please click here: Health Equity Policy

Department of Public Health Reports

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s Community Health Profiles data initiative provides local-level data for over 100 indicators known to impact community health and wellbeing, organized under 11 thematic areas. Data are provided for 179 places in Los Angeles County with population sizes of 20,000 or greater and are intended to support efforts to improve health and community conditions across Los Angeles County. A large number of the indicators included in the data initiative are based on the 2023 Los Angeles County Health Survey. Survey direct estimates are used for Los Angeles County overall, Service Planning Areas, and Supervisorial Districts, while small area estimates are used for incorporated cities, City of Los Angeles Council Districts and neighborhoods, and unincorporated areas.

To access reports, go to: http://https://ph-lacounty.hub.arcgis.com/pages/chp. On this website, you can also create customized profiles and compare results for health indicators across Los Angeles County.

For more sources of data, look below.