Integrating data to identify most at-risk communities for lead poisoning in Louisville, KY
Louisville, KYChallenge
There is a lack of safe and healthy housing in neighborhoods within Louisville, KY especially in communities of color and communities with large portions of families living below the poverty line. To reduce the risk of exposure to high levels of lead that often comes with unsafe housing, the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (CLPPP), part of Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness initiated blood lead level tests, but needed more localized data to identify the highest need areas.
Impact
The CLPPP integrated the Dashboard’s data on housing with potential lead risk with locally collected data on blood lead testing, revealing that the Louisville neighborhoods where lead risk is particularly elevated were the same neighborhoods with more children testing positive for high levels of lead (≥5µg/dL). This suggested to the CLPPP that children in these neighborhoods were actually being under-tested and there were likely even more children with elevated blood lead levels. CLPPP and a local collaborative, Lead Free Louisville, are now working together with the community to increase testing, raise awareness about the dangers of lead and how to reduce exposure, and strengthen local enforcement of housing codes to support healthier and safer housing. The Dashboard’s granular data helped Louisville spotlight these health inequities and take action to change city policies and practices.