City of Baltimore Annual Health Rankings Show Baltimore City’s Progress on Teen Births, Obesity, Premature Death

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Media Contact: Tiffany Thomas Smith
                          443.462.7939
                          mediahealth@baltimorecity.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Annual Health Rankings Show Baltimore City’s Progress on Teen Births, Obesity, Premature Death 

County health rankings show important gains on key measures in Health Baltimore 2015; City health officials note more work ahead to increase overall health of residents


BALTIMORE, MD (March 20, 2013) - The health of Baltimore City residents has improved in several key areas, according to the fourth annual County Health Rankings, released today by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (UWPHI). Rates of premature death, babies with low birth weight and teen births continued a three year decline in 2012, signaling steady progress toward the goals put forth in Healthy Baltimore 2015 (HB2015), the City’s comprehensive health policy agenda. In addition, the percentage of adults who smoke has dropped to 25 percent from last year’s rate of 27 percent and adult obesity declined to 31 percent. The Rankings are available at http://www.countyhealthrankings.org.

 

“We’re making significant progress as a City to improve key measures of the health of our residents. This report shows that our approach to good health – through smoking cessation, violence prevention, chronic disease prevention, and increasing access to healthy foods – is helping us to move in the right direction,” said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. “But we must ensure that those efforts reach all our citizens. And so, I will continue to push City agencies to place health outcomes at the center of our policies and to work together for a healthier Baltimore.”

 

“With the improvements made on measures of premature death, Baltimore citizens avoided a loss of more than 2,000 years of life compared to 2010,” said Commissioner of Health Oxiris Barbot. “Nevertheless, our health ranking compared to other Maryland counties is a call to action. The increase in adults without medical insurance is a troubling reminder that many of our residents cannot access the abundance of quality health care in our City. We must continue the partnerships and comprehensive policy approaches outlined in Healthy Baltimore 2015 in order to improve access to care and make a difference in the overall health conditions for residents.”

 

Improvements on other individual indicators show movement toward meeting key City health goals:

 

  • Violent crime rates dropped for the fourth consecutive year, from 1,692 crimes per 100,000 citizens in 2009 to 1,542 violent crimes per 100,000 in 2012, a decrease of 9.1 percent.
  • The percentage of diabetic Medicare enrollees receiving blood sugar screening has made a steady climb since 2009, increased to 80 percent in 2012.
  • The percentage of obese adults has decreased slightly to 31 percent, advancing toward the HB2015 goal of 28.7 percent.
  • Preventable hospital stays has fallen by 8 percent since 2009, making progress toward the HB2015 goal of a 15 percent reduction.

 

 

Despite these gains, this year’s ranking also shows that Baltimore has work to do in improving the health of its citizens. Out of 24 Maryland counties, the City ranked 24th overall on health indicators, with several health measures showing little progress over the past 4 years:

 

  • Unsafe sexual activity as measured by the rate of sexually transmitted infections ticked upward last year, increasing by nearly 8 percent from 2011.
  • The percentage of adults without health insurance rose from 13 percent in 2009 to 16 percent in 2012, marking a significant barrier faced by City residents to access needed health care.
  • Nearly 20 percent of adults reported poor or fair health in 2013, a figure that has held steady over the last four years and measures the quality of life and health experience of City residents.

 

 

The County Health Rankings rank the overall health of nearly every county in all 50 states. The Rankings allow counties to see how they compare to other counties within the state based on a range of factors that influence health including high school graduation rates, obesity, smoking, and family and social support.

 

The Rankings are one part of the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program. Communities are taking information from the County Health Rankings and using the County Health Roadmaps to build connections with local and national partners to improve health. Today marks the release of the call for applications for the 2014 RWJF Roadmaps to Health Prize, which honors outstanding community partnerships that are helping people live healthier lives. To learn more about this year’s winning communities or get information about becoming one, visit http://www.rwjf.org/goto/prize and http://www.countyhealthrankings.org.

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