South Bay residents now have access to health data from the Santa Clara County Public Health Department.
Health officials on Tuesday announced the launch of the county's Open Data Portal, an online tool aimed at helping improve the health of county residents. The portal hosts health data broken down by cities and neighborhoods in Santa Clara County.
The portal also provides data on 100 health topics.
“Good data is required to make informed public health decisions, and the Open Data Portal helps all of us understand factors that contribute to our health,” Public Health Department Director and County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody said in a statement. “By making our county’s health data accessible to anyone with an internet connection, we put power in the hands of our community and many partners to help us improve health.”
Some may find the information found on the database surprising. An online chart featured in the portal shows between 2007 and 2016, people age 85 or older had the highest suicide rate in the county.
The hope is health care providers can now use the detailed information to offer better care. But the health data portal can also give lawmakers the evidence they need to pass new legislation related to tobacco use or fighting obesity.
"Any kind of data that helps us support that, so that we can grant money or convince other cities to support that then we are all in better shape," Santa Clara County Supervisor Ken Yeager said.
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Visit the portal at sccphd.org/healthdata.
