Easy Access Project Eases Immigrants into a New Life – A CDC Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant Success Story
Hawaii has the nation’s highest rates of TB—almost three times the overall U.S. rate—and of Hansen’s disease. Health officials in Hawaii also must watch for infectious diseases that are uncommon in the rest of the country (such as dengue fever, a viral disease that is widespread in the tropics) and for emerging illnesses from Asia and the Pacific, where many immigrants originate.
According to CDC, vaccines are one of the most effective weapons against infectious diseases. However, for many of the illnesses arriving in Hawaii, no vaccines exist. Health workers at the Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) always feel a sense of urgency about preventing the spread of these illnesses from immigrants to the local population.
Learn how the Hawaii State Department of Health partnered with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Lanakila Health Center in Honolulu to provide language-appropriate and culturally sensitive health services to newly arrived immigrants.
Easy Access Project
Room 104
The Preventive Health and Health Services (PHHS) Block Grant supports prevention efforts in 50 states, the District of Columbia, 8 US territories, and 2 American Indian tribes. It is managed by the Division of Population Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments. For more information, go to http://www.cdc.gov/phhsblockgrant.
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