Our featured content for October is the Hawaiʻi’s Health and Wellbeing Journey Over Time — Monitoring Equity and Access public health report by the Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawaiʻi (UHERO). This report presents data collected by UHERO’s Rapid Health Survey, a study that can dynamically track the real-time changes in health equity for more than 2,000 adults statewide in Hawaiʻi.
It finds that there are growing health disparities in Hawaiʻi based on the presence of persistent and increasing inequities in the areas of physical and mental health, healthcare access, food security, housing, and employment.
Key findings include:
- Self-reported health status worsened. Among all respondents, the percentage of those reporting their health as excellent or very good decreased from 44% in June 2023 to 40% in December 2024. In the same time period, respondents below the poverty line saw a decrease from 40% to 23% for the same measure.
- Mental health burdens persisted with nearly 1 in 3 respondents (31%) reporting symptoms of depression, with these rates highest amongst young adults (ages 18-34), NHPI, Filipino, and low-income respondents.
- Respondents who reported that they needed mental health care but were unable to receive it increased more than fourfold from 5% in June 2023 to 22% by the end of 2024. Young adult respondents (ages 18-34) reported the largest increase from 8% to 39%.
- Nearly 1 in 3 respondents (30%) were considered to be food insecure, with this number increasing to 2 in 3 respondents (67%) being food insecure for those living below or near the poverty level in Hawaiʻi.
This report also includes an interactive dashboard that allows for exploring the results of the UHERO Rapid Survey across different demographic subgroups and time periods. The interactive dashboard can be viewed here.
