Resource Spotlight – Tobacco control with rural low SES populations
Rural population groups experience different health disparities compared to urban population groups. According to the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, rural risk factors for health disparities include geographic isolation, lower socioeconomic status, higher rates of health risk behaviors, and limited access to healthcare specialists and subspecialists.
The STTAR Hub highlights these resources for working with rural populations.
Geographic Health Equity Alliance (GHEA) – A CADCA initiative. A CDC funded National Network dedicated to reducing geographic health disparities related to tobacco and cancer.
Mobilizing Community Partnerships in Rural Communities – National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). This guidebook describes how rural communities can develop and maintain partnerships and provides stories from the field. While this resource does not illustrate the full scope of organizational and community partnerships, it consolidates lessons learned to identify essential elements of a partnership that healthcare providers, community-based organizations, and local health departments can translate into focused solutions for rural communities.
Primer for Multi-Sector Health Partnerships in Rural Areas and Small Cities – Build Healthy Places Network. Discusses different models and levels of complexity for partnerships between community development, finance, public health, and healthcare sectors. The accompanying toolbox includes a jargon buster, case studies, sources of local rural health data, and a partner finder.
The Rural Health Information (RHI) Hub is funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy to be a national clearinghouse on rural health issues. Get the information you need to build, maintain, and improve services rural communities. Find information related to a specific state or topic, find case studies of what is working in rural areas, explore maps and rural data visualizations, and more. For example, the Fostering Multi-Sector Collaboration to Advance Health Equity page lists potential partners and includes examples of rural multi-sector health initiatives.
Rural Health Mapping Tool – NORC at the University of Chicago. This interactive mapping tool measures a comprehensive picture of the well-being of rural communities, and it is the first publicly available tool to display a county-level map of the prosperity index developed by NORC. The tool is intended to guide rural communities in developing their strategies related to COVID-19. It also contains sociodemographic, cause of death, health care access and other data that is relevant to tobacco control.