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MHHD OVERVIEW
 In
fulfillment of the Department’s mission to promote the health of all
Maryland citizens, the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities (MHHD)
shall focus the Department’s resources on eliminating health disparities,
partner with statewide organizations in developing policies and implementing
programs, and monitor and report the progress to elected officials and the
public. The target ethnic/racial groups shall include African Americans,
Hispanic/Latino Americans and Asians.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
 In
2004, the Maryland Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities was
established with the enactment of
House Bill 86 and
Senate Bill 177. During Maryland’s 2003 Legislative Session,
HB 883 paved the foundation for Maryland’s Health Care Disparities
Initiative that is interwoven within HB 86 and SB 177.
The
Maryland Plan to Eliminate Minority Health Disparities
 The
Maryland Plan to Eliminate Minority Health Disparities,
released in December of 2006, is the culmination of 2 years of
work. The Plan is a coordinated effort of MHHD, the public,
health professionals, academia, community health groups, other
stakeholders and DHMH. Greater than 1,000 ideas and
recommendations were received from these groups.
The
purpose of the Plan is to promote dialogue across Maryland on the causes,
solutions and challenges faced by the state. The Plan offers a discussion,
with accompanying data, on health disparities in Maryland as well as the
nation. Major themes that emerged from this dialogue include: improving
cultural competence among health providers; increasing minority
representation in the health professions; and improving data systems in the
state relating to the collection of racial/ethnic data. Next steps involve
promoting active change throughout the state within the public and private
sectors.
MHHD WEBSITE AND CLEARINGHOUSE
 MHHD
serves as a clearinghouse of information on health disparities.
In addition to the collection of health disparities reports and
materials, MHHD maintains a health disparities website, located at
www.mdhealthdisparities.org. The website provides
resources,
disparities reports and materials,
data,
website links,
funding opportunities, and
events. A translation tool provides instant translation of
the website into French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish,
Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. In 2006 the MHHD website logged
approximately 284,000 hits.
HEALTH DISPARITIES DATA PROGRAM
STATE PARTNERSHIP GRANT
 In
2005, MHHD was awarded a five-year Department of Health and Human Services,
Office of Minority Health State Partnership Grant. The two primary
initiatives of this grant are the Workforce Diversity Initiative and the
Departmental Self Assessment.
The
goal of the
Workforce Diversity Initiative is to increase minorities in Maryland’s
health workforce by working with health professional schools to increase the
number of minority graduates.
The
goal of the Departmental Self-Assessment is to apply a systems change
approach resulting in a greater focus on reducing minority health
disparities in the Department.
YOUR
ROLE
You can participate in the
Maryland Disparities Initiative by volunteering to assist MHHD, utilizing
this website as a resource for your ongoing activities, providing us with
suggestions and Best Practices’ models, offering ideas on how we can improve
this site, or by sharing your ideas on how to eliminate minority health
disparities in Maryland. |
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