Center for Health Disparities
Welcome to the East Carolina University, Brody School of Medicine Center for Health Disparities (CHD). Our mission is to reduce health disparities of vulnerable populations and disadvantaged communities across the Eastern North Carolina (ENC) region through research, education and training, and community engagement and outreach. The Center’s faculty, staff, and community members work to reduce disparities in obesity, diabetes, cancers, and cardiovascular disease among rural, ethnic-minority, and low socioeconomic populations.
The term “health disparities” refers to the unequal distribution of health, illness, disease, suffering and death by social status (e.g. race/ethnicity, sex/gender, socioeconomic status, geographical region, etc.). ENC consists of the 41 county region east of Interstate 95 (pink areas). Health in ENC is significantly poorer than health in the rest of North Carolina, and health in the ENC-29 counties (dark pink) is poorest of all. Prevalence and mortality (death) rates from cancers, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes are far higher in the ENC-41 and ENC-29 than elsewhere in NC. Health for all racial/ethnic groups, and for all income and education groups is poorer in ENC than in the rest of NC.
