Health inequities in Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) populations have been perpetuated and exacerbated by decades of data inequity. The COVID-19 pandemic further exposed the striking gaps within data and research for NHPIs with the majority of states in the U.S. not reporting disaggregated COVID-19 cases for NHPIs, despite NHPIs having experienced among the highest COVID-19 rates of any racial and ethnic group in California and throughout the country.

On March 22, 2023, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research's Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) Data Policy Lab unveiled a series of data dashboards aimed at providing accessible data tools on the health and health needs of the NHPI community. Designed with community input from 34 NHPI organizations, the data dashboards hope to address the community’s barriers to accessing and utilizing disaggregated health and social determinants of health data to inform advocacy efforts and programs.

The launch featured the following data dashboards:

• NHPI Social Determinants of Health at the U.S. State Level Dashboard
• NHPI Social Determinants of Health at the California County Level Dashboard
• NHPI California County COVID-19 Dashboard
• NHPI Top 10 U.S. Counties COVID-19 Dashboard

The Social Determinants of Health dashboards feature demographic characteristics representing the current state of the NHPI community, including higher education attainment, uninsurance, poverty, home ownership, veteran status, and much more.

The COVID-19 dashboards present COVID-19 case and mortality statistics and highlight the continued lack of reliable NHPI vaccine data.

The launch also featured community leaders presenting how data are used by NHPI organizations and the importance of having these accessible data tools.