First statewide post-pandemic health assessment is released

May 2024
By Access Press Staff

The Minnesota Department of Health, together with the Healthy Minnesota Partnership, has released the new Statewide Health Assessment, offering a broad picture of Minnesotans' health and the conditions that shape it. Drawing on more than 400 data sources, the report highlights how factors like housing, education, transportation, social connections, and access to nature influence health—and shows that significant inequities continue across communities.

As one of the first statewide assessments completed after COVID-19, it includes data on the pandemic's impact, noting that COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in 2020 and 2021. The assessment also underscores how vaccines sharply reduced severe illness and death, especially among older adults.

Health Commissioner Dr. Brooke Cunningham emphasized that the findings reflect both Minnesota's strengths and the persistent disparities that make it harder for some communities to be healthy. The assessment will guide the Healthy Minnesota Partnership as it develops a new statewide health improvement framework, expected in late 2024. The report is intended to support action across agencies and communities, encouraging a health-in-all-policies approach to improve wellbeing statewide.

First statewide post-pandemic health assessment is released | Access Press