In the News
PHI’s Dr. Neil Maizlish Discusses New Research Which Found Improving Community Conditions Could Prevent 60,000 Deaths Each Year
Dr. Neil Maizlish, senior data advisor with PHI’s Public Health Alliance of Southern California, joins KCBS Radio to discuss new research which quantified how community conditions directly impact mortality rates across California. Findings showed that 60,000 deaths could have been prevented each year by addressing the social determinants of health in California communities, such as access to education, good paying jobs, affordable housing, transportation, healthy air, food, and water.
- KCBS Radio
Dr. Neil Maizlish, senior data advisor with PHI’s Public Health Alliance of Southern California, joined KCBS Radio for a discussion with news anchor Holly Quan. Together, they discuss his new research which used the program’s Healthy Places Index (HPI) platform to quantify how community conditions directly impact mortality rates across California.
Findings from the study confirmed that social determinants of health—such as access to education, good paying jobs, affordable housing and transportation, and healthy air, food, and water—are a leading cause of preventable and unfair deaths in California. By improving community conditions, 60,000 deaths could be prevented each year. This study is the first of its kind in California to highlight the magnitude of the burden of disease faced by Californians living in low resource communities.
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HPI Study: Improving Community Conditions Could Save Tens of Thousands of Lives Annually
Up to 24% of All Deaths & 72% of COVID-19 Deaths Could Have Been Prevented by Addressing Social Determinants of Health in California Communities, according to a groundbreaking new study by the Public Health Institute’s Public Health Alliance of Southern California. The Public Health Alliance of Southern California used their Healthy Places Index (HPI) platform, to quantify how community conditions directly impact mortality rates across California. Using the HPI—a composite measure of 23 factors, including economic standing, education, housing, transportation, environmental quality, and access to health care—researchers found that 24% of all deaths in the state, over 60,000 per year, could have been prevented by addressing inequities in community conditions, also referred to as social determinants of health. This figure jumps to a staggering 72% when looking specifically at COVID-19 deaths (26,000 in 2020-2021) during the pandemic. The study, “California Mortality and the Healthy Places Index,” was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Originally published by KCBS Radio
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