Fielding School researchers awarded grant to study COVID-19 among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders
Ninez Ponce has received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to produce data on COVID-19 among Native Hawaiians & Pacific Islanders.
Ninez Ponce, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health professor of health policy and management and director of the Fielding School’s UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, has received a $500,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to produce data on COVID-19 among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
Under the grant, a team at the center’s Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander COVID-19 Data Policy Lab will address health equity issues brought to light by the pandemic. Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are currently seeing infection rates nearly five times that of white people in Los Angeles County alone, and the impact is felt across the nation, in states such as Arkansas, Louisiana, Illinois, Colorado, Washington and Oregon, where NHPI case and death rates are the highest among all racial and ethnic groups.
“To date, only 20 states and Washington, D.C. report NHPI COVID-19 cases and 19 states and the district report disaggregated NHPI COVID-19 deaths. States either report NHPIs aggregated with Asians or are put in ‘other race’ or may be put in ‘multiracial’ categories,” said Ponce, who also serves as principal investigator of the California Health Interview Survey, the nation’s largest state-level health survey.
“If data is not disaggregated, then the high risks are hidden and decision makers will think there’s no problem for a given community," she said. "Our lab is also tracking cases and deaths over time, and lack of attention to the high COVID-19 risk for this population will lead to what could be avoidable infections and deaths; these are avoidable because resources for community outreach and education could get more testing sites and culturally-effective messages out on the COVID-19 toll on the NHPI community.”
In California, the NHPI case and death rates are higher than any other racial and ethnic group. The lab was created in part to address the lack of COVID-19 data on Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Data that are broken up in specific subgroups are essential to deploy appropriate resources and aid to groups that are often invisible or unnoticed due to the alarming lack of representative data.
“As a member of the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community, being part of this newly-launched NHPI COVID-19 Data Policy Lab has been both a blessing and inspiring,” says Corina Penaia, community engagement and research director for the lab. “We are committed to protecting our families, empowering our community with knowledge, and providing actionable data to advocate for the health needs of NHPIs.”
During the grant period, the lab will put together a case study report on developing racial and ethnic data labs, an expanded data dashboard, and a policy platform for a coalition of organizations to ensure rescue efforts during the pandemic as well as economic recovery. Efforts will be dedicated to addressing striking gaps within data and research for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and the need to increase the number of states reporting cases within the community.
Members of the lab will collaborate with network partners to promote resources among community groups and policymakers. Researchers hope that their work will provide a helpful model for other groups wanting to collect data on overlooked groups.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s mission is to improve health and health care of all Americans and it is the nation’s largest philanthropy dedicated solely to health.
Written by Elaiza Torralba
The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, founded in 1961, is dedicated to enhancing the public's health by conducting innovative research, training future leaders and health professionals from diverse backgrounds, translating research into policy and practice, and serving our local communities and the communities of the nation and the world. The school has 631 students from 26 nations engaged in carrying out the vision of building healthy futures in greater Los Angeles, California, the nation and the world.
Faculty Referenced by this Article
Nationally recognized health services researcher and sociomedical scientist with 25+ years' experience in effectiveness and implementation research.
Dr. Ron Andersen is the Wasserman Professor Emeritus in the UCLA Departments of Health Policy and Management.
Professor of Community Health Sciences & Health Policy and Management, and Associate Dean for Research
EMPH Academic Program Director with expertise in healthcare marketing, finance, and reproductive health policy, teaching in the EMPH, MPH, MHA program
Dr. Michelle S. Keller is a health services researcher whose research focuses on the use and prescribing of high-risk medications.
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