Louisiana Ranked Unhealthiest State: Report

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New York - Vermont was ranked the healthiest state in the US for the second year in a row, according to a report from the United health Foundation, the Partnership for Prevention and the American Public Health Association.
The report found that across the state smoking has dropped to 17.6 percent.
Although obesity is on the rise in Vermont it is increasing at a lower rate than any other state, according to the report released Wednesday.
This is the second year in a row that that Vermont topped the rankings.
Hawii ranked second while New Hampshire took the third spot.
On the bottom of the list moving from 49 last to 50 this year was Louisiana.
Louisiana has a high rate of obesity and childhood poverty. The number of unisured was also a contributing factor, CNN reported.
The state has ranked at or near the bottom of the list every year since it was first published in 1990.
Rounding out the bottom 10 were South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Nevada and Georgia.
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This report looks at the four groups of health determinants that can be affected:
1. Personal behaviors include the everyday activities we do that affect our personal health. It includes habits and practices we develop as individuals and families that have an effect on our personal health and on our utilization of health resources. These behaviors are modifiable with effort by the individual supported by community, policy and clinical interventions.
2. Community & environment reflects the reality that the daily conditions in which we live our lives have a great effect on achieving optimal individual health.
3. Public and health policies are indicative of the availability of resources to encourage and maintain health and the extent that public and health programs reach into the general population.
4. Clinical care reflects the quality, appropriateness and cost of the care we receive at doctors’ offices, clinics and hospitals.
All health determinants are intertwined and must work together to be effective. For example, an initiative that addresses tobacco cessation requires not only efforts on the part of the individual but also support from the community in the form of public and health policies that promote non-smoking and the availability of effective counseling and care at clinics. Similarly, sound prenatal care requires individual effort, access to and availability of prenatal care coupled with high quality of health care services.

The ultimate purpose of America’s Health Rankings™ is to stimulate action by individuals, communities, public health professionals, health industry employees and public administration and health officials to improve the health of the population of the United States. We do this by promoting public conversation concerning health in our states, as well as providing information to facilitate citizen participation. We encourage participation in all elements: personal behaviors, community, environment, clinical care, and public and health policies. Each person individually, and in their capacity as an employee, employer, voter, community volunteer, health official or elected official, can contribute to the advancement of the healthiness of their state. Proven, effective and innovative actions can improve the health of people in every state whether the state is first or 50th.