Dr. Clif CleavelandWide disparities in health exist across regions and within individual states. A resident of one county may enjoy years of additional, healthy living compared to a person of similar age in her state who happens to live in a different county.
County Health Rankings (www.countyhealthrankings.org), an invaluable program sponsored jointly by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, recently released its rankings and evaluations of U.S. counties for 2013. This is necessary reading for public officials and anyone interested in the public’s health.
The comprehensive study emphasizes that health involves far more than periodic visits to clinics and pharmacies. Twenty-five different factors are analyzed in determining the health
status for populations of each county, including health behaviors, access to clinical care, social and economic factors and physical environment. Data for each county are compared with national benchmarks.
Common to counties with better health are lower rates of obesity, smoking, teenage pregnancies and school dropouts. These counties have better access to primary-care providers and dentists, social support systems, recreational facilities and healthy foods. They have lower rates of unemployment and fewer residents who lack health insurance. Income and educational status, obviously, are major determinants of health status.