CDC awards New York nearly $69 million to address COVID-19-related health disparities

The CDC recently announced it has awarded Health Research Inc. (agent for New York State Department of Health) and the Fund for Public Health in New York (agent for NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene) more than $68.6 million to address COVID-19-related health disparities. 

The funding, part of a $2.25 billion nationwmide investment, seeks to “advance health equity” by expanding state, local, U.S. territorial, and freely associated state health departments’ capacity and services, the CDC said in a release. 

The intended outcomes of these grants are to: 1) reduce COVID-19-related health disparities; 2) improve and increase testing and contact tracing among populations that are at higher risk and are underserved, including racial and ethnic-minority groups and people living in rural communities; and, 3) improve state, local, U.S. territorial, and freely associated state health department capacity and services to prevent and control COVID-19 infection.

“The pandemic has laid bare longstanding health inequities, and health departments are on the front line of efforts to address those inequities,” Dr. José T. Montero, director of CDC’s Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support, said. “These grants will provide these health departments with much needed support to address disparities in communities that need it most.”

The full list of state, local, and territorial health departments receiving the grants can be found at https://www.cdc.gov/publichealthgateway/docs/partnerships/OT21-2103-Awardees.pdf

This initiative is funded through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021.