"What we're focused on today is bringing together the Atlantic jurisdictions of Puerto Rico and the USVI with the six U.S.A.P.I. to talk about health equity and how we can advance that here. It's rather historic, the oceans coming together," said Karl Ensign, Vice-President of Island Support under the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials hosted a historic meeting on Saipan to discuss equity. He says it's the first of its kind.

He added, "So we're focusing on legislative development. How can we develop policies that really help support the social determinants of health? How can we think about sustainability in terms of braiding and layering funding? How can we build community health through community public health workers for instance, or thinking of our dispensaries in remote atolls -- how can we build their capabilities?"

The association represents all 59 health officials in the U.S. CNMI hospital CEO Dr. Esther Muna is a board member. She said, "So we're learning a lot from them. We're learning how the similarities that we have, you know, culturally, you know, how you want to make sure that whatever, you know, if you're trying to bring health equity to the CNMI, for example, you want to make sure that you understand what are the challenges and the social factors that they're experiencing so they can go over those barriers, cross those barriers and have healthier outcomes."

The discussion this week is centered on reducing health disparities. Justa Encarnacion is the Commissioner of Health for the U.S. Virgin Islands. She said, "We were able to visit the hospital yesterday and really have a feeling of what you do here within the CNMI. And I think that well, first of all, we were very impressed with what we saw, the neatness, the friendliness of the individuals that you work with on a daily basis. And the camaraderie that we feel and we see continuously really gives us hope for continuation of partnership."