Strengthening New York's Public Health System for the 21st Century
REPORT OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE WORK GROUP TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH COUNCIL
APPENDIX E COMMUNITIES WORKING TOGETHER FOR A HEALTHIER NEW YORK UPDATE 2001
In the summer of 1996, the New York State Public Health Council undertook a process to recommend priority areas for public health action for the next ten years. The Council formed a Public Health Priorities Committee to seek statewide input and to recommend health objectives for the State. The Committee, in their final report entitled Communities Working Together for a Healthier New York (CWT), identified 12 priority areas of opportunity for improving a community's health. These areas were selected because they addressed the conditions resulting in the greatest morbidity, mortality, disability and productive years of life lost. They included:
- Access to and Delivery of Health Care
- Education
- Healthy Births
- Mental Health
- Nutrition
- Physical Activity
- Responsible Sexual Activity
- Safe and Healthy Work Environment
- Substance Abuse: Alcohol and other drugs
- Tobacco Use
- Violence and Abusive Behaviors
- Unintentional Injury
New York has either met or is likely to meet many of the Year 2006 CWT goals related to access to care, pregnancy rates, unintentional and intentional injury including:
- adolescent pregnancy rates (10-14 yrs, 15-17 yrs);
- unintentional injury hospitalization rates (10-14 yrs, 15-24 yrs);
At the same time however, other Year 2006 Goals have seen little or no improvement. These indicators tend to be related to individual risk behaviors, but include a few that relate to maternal and child health:
- % of children 2 years of age with appropriate immunizations;
- adolescent and adult smoking;
- and % of adults who are overweight
Graphs highlighting those indicators identified as still needing improvement are presented below.
*The New York State Youth Tobacco Survey defines frequent use as smoking 20 or more cigarettes in the past 30 days.
** The Year 2006 goal defined frequent use as smoking daily. (OASIS - 17% in 1994) Source: YRBS