Hawaii Is Bringing Back Its Health Equity Office As Pandemic Highlights Disparities … The office will be reestablished with the help of nearly $25 million in federal funds.
The pandemic illuminated long-standing health inequities in Hawaii as COVID-19 disproportionately affected Filipinos and non-Hawaiian Pacific Islanders. The Department of Health hopes to reduce those by reestablishing the defunct Office of Health Equity with the help of an infusion of nearly $25 million in federal funds.
The change comes as racial and ethnic disparities in the pandemic persist across coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, deaths and vaccination rates in the islands.
Lola Irvin, who leads the health department’s chronic disease division, said the re-forming of the equity office and expansion of its staff to seven is in response to those disparities.
