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Improving the Collection of National Health Data: the Case for the Middle Eastern and North African Checkbox for Communities in the USA

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Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is reviewing current minimum standards for collecting race/ethnicity data on federal forms. This review is extremely important for Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Americans, who have been overlooked and unable to receive federal funding for their communities for decades. MENA individuals are defined as “White,” which is particularly concerning given that research continues to identify that their health and lived experiences differ from Whites. From January to April 2023, the OMB requested public comments on a separate MENA checkbox. The purpose of this research was to describe public comments regarding the addition of the MENA checkbox on the US Census and other federal forms.

Methods

A public comment period outlining changes to the collection of race/ethnicity data on the US Census and other federal forms opened in January 2023. Public comments were reviewed to determine whether MENA was mentioned, whether comments supported a MENA checkbox, and whether comments mentioned acceptance for health-related reasons.

Results

There were 6700 comments reviewed. Most (73.88%) mentioned adding a MENA checkbox. Of those, 99.31% accepted adding the checkbox. Among the comments that accepted adding a MENA checkbox, 29.09% mentioned health, 44.75% mentioned linguistic/language services, and 44.75% mentioned education-related reasons.

Conclusions

Overall, the comments reviewed demonstrated strong acceptance of the addition of a MENA checkbox on federal forms. These findings are encouraging, yet further review is needed to contribute to the OMB’s final decision on whether to add the checkbox and uncover the health of this population.

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Data Availability

Data are available from the Open ICPSR data repository (doi:https://doi.org/10.3886/E189901V3).

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Acknowledgements

The author who like to acknowledge Bachelor of Science in Public Health students Wafa Atif and Shruthi Ranjithkumar for their role in data collection for this study.

Funding

This work was partially supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging [grant number R03AG070177].

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  1. Public Health Program, Department of Kinesiology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, 76019-0259, USA

    Tiffany B. Kindratt

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Kindratt, T.B. Improving the Collection of National Health Data: the Case for the Middle Eastern and North African Checkbox for Communities in the USA. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-023-01759-3

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