KHI

TOPEKA – Over the past decades, the racial and ethnic composition of the population in Kansas has changed. There has been an increase in the number of minorities and a decrease in the number of White, non-Hispanic Kansans, as well as a population shift from rural areas into urban and semi-urban communities.

Changes in the composition of the population could affect health care needs and require the health care system to evolve in order to address social determinants of health that are often distributed differently across population groups.

To describe these changes, the Kansas Health Institute (KHI) has released a new publication, Chartbook: Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities in a Changing Kansas. This update to the 2005 KHI publication, Racial and Ethnic Minority Health Disparities in Kansas, describes the population of Kansas in order to identify disparities that may exist and provides data that will spark conversations about the needs of communities across the state.

The Kansas Health Institute delivers credible information and research enabling policy leaders to make informed health policy decisions that enhance their effectiveness as champions for a healthier Kansas. The Kansas Health Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan health policy and research organization based in Topeka, established in 1995 with a multiyear grant from the Kansas Health Foundation.