New Resource Readily Displays Women's Health Data

Screenshot from Kaiser Family Foundation website

By Miriam Zoila Pérez — December 17, 2015

The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) just released a new interactive map that allows you to access information on women’s health by state.

Screenshot from Kaiser Family Foundation website
Screenshot from Kaiser Family Foundation website

For each of four categories — demographics, coverage and access, sexual health, and pregnancy — you can hover over any state and see quick facts. The overall national statistics are also offered, so you can do a quick side by side comparison to see how a particular state matches up to the national data. The photo above shows the demographic facts for Colorado (click to enlarge). KFF says that “the profiles draw from multiple sources, including the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Census Bureau.”

Additionally, for each state you can click and see a series of additional charts on the same four topics, with more in-depth information about that state’s population. Below, again, is the detailed charts for sexual health in Colorado (click to enlarge).

On the sexual health page for Colorado, for example, you can see cervical cancer incidence, percentage of women who’ve had a pap smear within the last three years, breast cancer incidence rate, mammogram rates, HIV diagnosis rates, and number of reported STIs by type.

For the pregnancy category they offer birth rates by race, preterm birth rates, low birthweight rates, percentage of births funded by Medicaid. Under demographics, you find the statistics of women by age, race, percentage of women reporting poor health and poor mental health. Under coverage and access, you find health insurance coverage rates by race, Medicaid enrollment rates, facts about Medicaid expansion for family planning services, and share of women who don’t have a health care provider, or haven’t seen a provider within the last twelve months.

The data is presented in a way that demonstrates how women fare in almost all of the categories broken down by race, which is helpful given the disparities that can exist between groups of women.

Screenshot of Colorado Sexual Health Statistics from the Kaiser Family Foundation
Screenshot of Colorado Sexual Health Statistics from the Kaiser Family Foundation

It’s a comprehensive and user friendly tool that brings disparate statistical public health information into one easy-to-navigate place.

Check it out and see how your state measures up on women’s health.

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