The South Carolina Healthy Communities Index: Visualizing Health Inequality Using Interactive Maps and Dashboards

Health inequality continues to be a persistent and pernicious problem throughout much of the United States. Utilizing publicly available data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we detail how undergraduate public health and health administration students analyzed health inequities at the census tract level in South Carolina using ArcGIS Online via remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The South Carolina Healthy Communities Index facilitates easier and more effective comparisons across geographies and communities, providing students with a consolidated view of how communities are faring concerning their overall community health. Students added race and ethnicity data from the American Community Survey to facilitate greater context and understanding of health disparities in South Carolina. The lesson concludes with the creation of an interactive dashboard that brings a deeper understanding of the issues that matter through visualizing key trends and occurrences all without specialized software or a computing lab.