U.S. Virgin Islands Population Social Vulnerability and Implications for Public Health

Publication Date: 2022

Author(s):

Greg Guannel, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Hilary Lohman, Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

Joe Dwyer, University of the Virgin Islands, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

Abstract:

The U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), a U.S. territory in the Caribbean, is a highly unequal community with high levels of poverty, high health disparities, low home ownership rates, and low education achievement. The creation of a Social Vulnerability Index for communities of the USVI is critical to understand the social determinants of health for the most vulnerable and create appropriate policy and interventions. Although social vulnerability of the people living in all U.S. states and other territories has been quantified, there is not any geospatial dataset of the social vulnerability of the communities of the USVI. This report provides a first estimate of Social Vulnerability in the USVI.

Citation: Guannel, G., Lohman, H., Dwyer, J., 2022, "Social and Flooding Vulnerability in the U.S. Virgin Islands", Natural Hazards Center Public Health Report Series, 6. Boulder, CO: Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado Boulder.

View publication: https://hazards.colorado.edu/public-health-disaster-research/the-public-health-implications-of-social-vulnerability-in-the-u-s-virgin-islands

Download Figures: https://cgtc-usvi.org/s/Figures-Guannel-et-al.zip

Keywords: Social Vulnerability Index , social vulnerability, hazard mitigation, U.S. Virgin Islands

Watch the following webinar shared with the Virgin Islands’ public in October 2022