Rural Health Resources

In comparison to urbanites, people living in rural areas have poorer health outcomes. They are more likely to die from cancer, heart disease, chronic lower respiratory disease, and stroke as well as unintentional injuries such as motor vehicle crashes and opioid overdoses. Numerous factors contribute to rural health disparities such as lack of access to medical facilities and medical specialists, less access to supermarkets, higher rates of smoking, fewer opportunities for leisure-time exercise, and higher poverty rates to name a few. Though the issue is multifactorial, resources such as the Rural Health Information Hub (RHIhub) provides evidence-based toolkits for rural communities to help address rural health inequities as well as tackle issue-specific concerns such as a lack of transportation which is a barrier to accessing healthy food and emergency health care.