Health News
Kentucky has received a five-year $1.7 million grant from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help Kentuckians reduce risk factors that lead to obesity and chronic disease.
Most of the money will be used for preventive measures such as physical activity, weight loss and better nutrition, and programs to prevent and control diabetes, heart disease and stroke with a focus on high blood pressure.
The plan will put "special emphasis" on coordinated health efforts in schools, according to a state news release.
The state Department of Public Health, which received the grant, is partnering with the Department of Education and other groups to help ensure efficient use of resources and reliable sharing of information, Health Commissioner Stephanie Mayfield said.
?Schools will be a vital partner in this project,? she said in the release. ?We will also be working with Kentucky Department of Education to develop a system that will assist schools in helping children with certain chronic diseases to improve health, reduce absenteeism and have a better chance to succeed academically.?
Kentucky has one of the highest childhood obesity rates in the country. It ties Mississippi for the highest percentage of youth in grades 9 to 12 that are obese (18 percent) and has the third highest percentage of children ages 10 to 17 who are obese (21 percent). It was one of 32 states to receive such grants.
Kentucky ranks 44th in overall state health according to the 2012 America's Health Rankings by the United Health Foundation. It has the nation's highest rates of smoking and preventable hospitalizations, and ranks in the top 10 in obese adults, diabetes among adults and cardiovascular deaths.
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Health News
Kentucky gets $1.7 million federal grant to reduce risk factors that lead to obesity, chronic disease; focus will be on schools
Kentucky has received a five-year $1.7 million grant from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help Kentuckians reduce risk factors that lead to obesity and chronic disease.
Most of the money will be used for preventive measures such as physical activity, weight loss and better nutrition, and programs to prevent and control diabetes, heart disease and stroke with a focus on high blood pressure.
The plan will put "special emphasis" on coordinated health efforts in schools, according to a state news release.
The state Department of Public Health, which received the grant, is partnering with the Department of Education and other groups to help ensure efficient use of resources and reliable sharing of information, Health Commissioner Stephanie Mayfield said.
?Schools will be a vital partner in this project,? she said in the release. ?We will also be working with Kentucky Department of Education to develop a system that will assist schools in helping children with certain chronic diseases to improve health, reduce absenteeism and have a better chance to succeed academically.?
Kentucky has one of the highest childhood obesity rates in the country. It ties Mississippi for the highest percentage of youth in grades 9 to 12 that are obese (18 percent) and has the third highest percentage of children ages 10 to 17 who are obese (21 percent). It was one of 32 states to receive such grants.
Kentucky ranks 44th in overall state health according to the 2012 America's Health Rankings by the United Health Foundation. It has the nation's highest rates of smoking and preventable hospitalizations, and ranks in the top 10 in obese adults, diabetes among adults and cardiovascular deaths.
- Kentucky Drops To 12th From Fifth In Adult Obesity; Health Official Says Many Programs Have Contributed To This Decrease
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Kentucky has seen a decrease in its adult obesity rate, to 31.6 percent in 2014 from 33.2 percent in 2013, causing it to drop to 12th in the nation for adult obesity from fifth, according to the latest State...
- Kentucky Ranks Fifth In Obesity And Its High-schoolers Rank First
By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Obesity and health problems go hand in hand, and Kentuckians are known for both. Kentucky now has the fifth highest adult obesity rate in the nation, up from ninth last year, and Kentucky's high-school students...
- Study Says Overweight Kids Become Overweight Teens
If a child is overweight in kindergarten, she probably will be in eighth grade, says a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. And if your baby was heavy at birth, it has a greater chance of being fat. It found overweight kindergartners...
- Community-based Solutions To Childhood Obesity Show Signs Of Progress Elsewhere; Will Kentucky Pick Up On Them?
By Molly Burchett Kentucky Health News For decades, researchers reported with alarm the increasing trend of overweight children in America, with one in three kids on the way to developing Type 2 diabetes. Across the country, action has been taken to address...
- Annual Health Ratings Of States Still Puts Kentucky 44th
Kentucky ranks 44th among the 50 states in overall health in United Health Foundation's America's Health Rankings. Darla Carter of The Courier-Journal reports that while this is the same rating Kentucky achieved last year, the state is not without...