Welcome to OMH
The Office of Minority Health (OMH) was created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 1985 as a result of the Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Black and Minority Health. Under the direction of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health, OMH advises the Secretary and the Office of Public Health and Science (OPHS) on public health issues affecting American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders, Blacks/African Americans, and Hispanics/Latinos.
The mission of OMH is to improve the health of racial and ethnic populations through the development of effective health policies and programs that help to eliminate disparities in health.
OMH works closely with sister agencies within HHS and their minority health representatives. Regional minority health consultants serve as OMH representatives in the 10 HHS regional offices. OMH works closely with established State offices of minority health, and provides technical assistance, as requested, to minority community groups seeking to establish similar entities within their states.
OMH has a role in the development and coordination of Federal health policy by addressing minority health concerns and making progress to eliminate health disparities. OMH helps to ensure that Federal, State, and local health programs take into account the needs of disadvantaged and racial and ethnic populations, including their specific and cultural characteristics.
Together with HHS operating divisions and other Federal departments, OMH works to improve collection and analyses of data on the health of racial and ethnic populations. OMH also monitors efforts to achieve the goals of Healthy People 2010, which has a special focus on eliminating, and not merely reducing, racial and ethnic disparities in health.
OMH has taken an active role in implementing the HHS Initiative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health. In February 1998, the President announced this initiative as part of his Initiative on Race, in an effort to make the elimination of disparities in health outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities in this country a national priority. Congress made an important investment towards the goal of eliminating disparities by approving funding for the Initiative.
As part of this initiative, OMH works with, and provides support to the Surgeon General and the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation; helped to identify health focus areas for the Department's Initiative; serves on the six health focus area workgroups, and the data workgroup; has taken over the administration of the Race and Health Web site; and collaborates with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health grants.
OMH coordinates HHS' efforts to implement other selected White House Initiatives, and sponsors initiatives of its own. Currently in effect are the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), the Hispanic Agenda for Action (HAA), the White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities, and the Asian American and Pacific Islander Action Agenda.
OMH cooperative agreements and grants help launch research and demonstration projects. Multi- project cooperative agreements are regularly funded both by OMH and other partners within HHS.
OMH administers grant programs in an effort to facilitate community linkages and strategies that use scarce resources efficiently and across organizational lines. Grant programs include Minority Community Health Coalition Demonstration Grants, the Bilingual/Bicultural Service Demonstration Grants, and the Information Technology Infrastructure Grant Program.
With funds from the HHS-Congressional Black Caucus HIV Initiative, OMH is expanding its activities related to HIV/AIDS. OMH now operates several programs related to minorities and HIV/AIDS. These programs include the Minority Community Health Coalition Demonstration Program, HIV/AIDS; the Technical Assistance and Capacity Development Demonstration Program for HIV/AIDS?Related Services in Highly Impacted Minority Communities; the State and Territorial Minority HIV/AIDS Demonstration Grant Program; and OMH supports AIDS-related projects under 18 umbrella cooperative agreements.
In 1987, OMH established the Office of Minority Health Resource Center (OMHRC) to meet the public's need for reliable, accurate, and timely information and technical assistance on issues affecting the health of minority populations. Since that time, OMHRC has grown to become one of the nation's largest sources of minority health information.
Some of OMHRC's services include referrals, publications, reference information, and access to its resource person's network -- a database of minority health professionals from across the country. OMHRC publishes a monthly newsletter, Closing the Gap, which reports on Federal, State, and community-based activities related to minority health. Each newsletter covers a different health topic, and is available for free in both print and electronic versions.
In addition, new staff has been added to the OMHRC to take on additional projects including developing Web pages specific to HIV/AIDS with a focus on funding information; expanding the database and library; building the capability of the Resource Person's Network with experts in the field of HIV/AIDS who will provide technical assistance to the community; publishing four additional issues of Closing the Gap on HIV/AIDS-related topics; and increasing treatment and prevention messages related to HIV/AIDS. The Resource Center is adding staff dedicated to answering the public's questions about HIV/AIDS.
Please browse the OMH Web site for information on minority health issues, funding opportunities, conferences, legislative action in Congress, publications, useful information links, and other information. If you need further assistance, please call the OMHRC at (800) 444-6472. All services of the center are free of charge and Spanish-speaking information specialists are available. TDD for the hearing impaired is available at (301) 230-7199.
