Prevention Matters

The new report card that compares the health of U.S. counties was named the “Best Prevention Idea of the Week,” while a study showing that poorly fitting condoms contribute to improper use was named “Worst Prevention Idea of the Week.”

The “Best/Worst” awards are announced each week in “Prevention Matters,” the blog of Partnership for Prevention. Nominees are submitted by Partnership staff as well as the general public, and are voted on by the staff. Partnership for Prevention is a nonpartisan organization of business, nonprofit and government leaders who are working to make evidence-based disease prevention and health promotion a national priority. More information is available at http://www.prevent.org/.

BEST

New Report Card Compares Health of US Counties

A new report card allows you to compare the health status of any county in the country with that of another. "County Health Rankings: Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health," a health report card for almost every one of the nation's more than 3,000 counties, was released on Wednesday, February 17 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute.

WORST

Ill-Fitting Condoms Contribute To Improper Use, Study Finds

Men are more likely to remove a condom during sex or experience condom failures if they use a poorly fitting condom, according to a University of Kentucky study. Condoms that do not fit properly raise the risks of infection and pregnancy, as well as reduce pleasure for both partners, the study found.

A new report card allows you to compare the health status of any county in the country with that of another. "County Health Rankings: Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health," a health report card for almost every one of the nation's more than 3,000 counties, is being released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute.

Starting midday today and continuing through Thursday, the "Healthy Kids, Healthy Futures" conference in Washington, DC, will feature live reporting via liveblogging and Twitter. This will include interviews with speakers including Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, guest posts and more. Organizers will be using Twitter to cover the event at the hashtag #hkhf09.

The two-day conference, Healthy Kids, Healthy Future, will convene children’s health and early education experts, Administration officials, scholars, public health officials and early care program administrators to address these questions and more. Other speakers include Martha Coven, Director of the White House Office of Mobility and Opportunities; Joe Thompson, MD, MPH, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity.

The event is hosted by Nemours, one of the nation’s leading pediatric health systems, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, with support from the Altarum Institute.

The Convergence Partnership, a collaboration of six of the country's top health foundation, has issued a joint statement (3 pages, PDF) from the leaders of those foundations calling for prevention measures to be central to the reform of our national health system.

Top officials at the California Endowment, Nemours, Kaiser Permanente, and the Robert Wood Johnson, Kresge, and W.K. Kellogg foundations wrote that prevention measures such as early health screenings and improved access to healthy food will save both lives and money. As Congress debates how to reform the system, the foundation leaders emphasize that prevention can save money and improve the long-term health of the population.

A 2008 study by the Trust for America's Health, Prevention for a Healthier America (72 pages, PDF) found that for every dollar invested in proven community-based disease prevention programs, the nation saves $5.60. According to the study, investing $10 in prevention per person would yield annual savings of more than $16 billion nationwide within five years.

"Over time," the signatories wrote, "a focus on community prevention will improve health, save money, reduce demands on our health system, and, most important, lead to a nation of healthier people and healthier places to live."

For the first time in our nation’s history, today’s generation of children may well live sicker, shorter lives than their parents. To improve America’s health, we need to understand why, across social boundaries and in every community, so many Americans are getting sick in the first place.

To answer that question, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America spent the last year and a half investigating the powerful influence that factors beyond health care – where we live, learn, work and play – have on our health. As staff director, I had the privilege of joining the diverse group of commissioners in talking with experts, leaders and citizens across the country as the commission developed its recommendations.

We have good news: From business to government and at all levels of society, leaders and citizens are collaborating to remove obstacles that prevent people from making healthy choices. Where communities have mobilized to improve their health, we found grocery stores well-stocked with nutritious food, streets that were safe to walk, housing that was maintained, workplaces that promoted wellness, and a commitment among schools, child-care centers and parents to give all children in the community a chance to grow up healthy.

The commission released its recommendations in April to highlight these local successes. But the commission did not stop at identifying programs and policies and learning why they work. As Partnership for Prevention understands well, great ideas will go nowhere without equal efforts to educate decision-makers and engage stakeholders towards action. To that end, the commission is actively facilitating collaboration across communities, businesses, unions, philanthropies, and local, state and federal governments to help bring the recommendations to life.

Specifically, the commission recommends:

• Making education and high-quality child care a national priority


• Banning junk food in schools. Federal funds should be used exclusively for healthful meals


• Getting kids moving. All schools (K-12) should include at least 30 minutes every day for children to be physically active


• Eliminating so-called food deserts. Create public-private partnerships to open grocery stores in communities without access to healthful foods


• Creating incentives for healthy, safe development by assigning a health impact rating to housing and infrastructure projects


• Providing employees opportunities to make healthy choices in the workplace


• Protecting us all from tobacco smoke. Eliminating smoking remains one of the most important contributors to longer, healthier lives

You can read all the recommendations and learn more about model programs at commissiononhealth.org.

Building a healthier America is feasible in years, not decades, if we collaborate and act on what is making a difference. I encourage you to read the commission’s recommendations and to do your part to make America’s health a place of progress once again.


Dr. David R. Williams is a Professor of Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Staff Director for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America.