Everyone deserves the right to live a long, healthy life. Yet some people in Missouri are not doing as well as others, due to a wide range of factors.
The County Health Rankings and Roadmaps 2024 report shows the health of people in Livingston County using 80 indicators, such as employment, education, income, air quality, access to reliable transportation, and health insurance status. These health factors contribute to health outcomes like quality and length of life. Livingston County ranked seventeenth of Missouri’s 115 counties in health outcomes.
“We know that health is more than just the absence of disease,” says health department administrator Sherry Weldon. “It also includes our social and mental well-being and is influenced by more than just our personal choices. In fact, more than half of the factors that influence our health come from our environment.”
The physical environment, like healthy air and water, safe housing, and access to reliable transportation, accounts for 10% of the factors that influence health. Another 40% include social and economic factors like education opportunities, employment and income, family support, and community safety.
“Public health works to prevent disease and protect people in our community,” adds Weldon, “but we cannot accomplish community health alone. We depend on our partners in other sectors and members of our community to join in an all-hands-on-deck approach. Together we can collectively create the conditions in which everyone in our community can be healthy and thrive.”
The health department and its partners are currently working on increasing the rate of mammography, identifying STIs (sexually transmitted infections) through testing options, raising awareness about opioid misuse and educating about mental health resources in the community.
“These programs and the other services we offer aim to close the gaps on health disparities – or differences in health,” says Weldon. “We recognize that people who encounter barriers to health have a unique perspective and should be part of developing solutions. With their active engagement, we can work together with our partners to ensure that all county residents have the opportunity to live long, healthy lives.”
The full 2024 County Health Rankings and Roadmaps report can be found at countyhealthrankings.org.