Nathaniel Tanner, Public Health Trends

I chose to contact a city called Hampton, Virginia, which is adjacent to my hometown of Newport News. I contacted Irene Serranolo, the senior health educator of Hampton. She shared with me the 5 biggest public health concerns that she has. She discussed with me the following:

-Infant Mortality Rate

-The mortality rate of African American women with breast cancer

-Unplanned teenage pregnancy

-Obesity

-Type II Diabetes

Infant mortality rate is a deep concern everywhere in the world. Ms. Serranolo discussed with me about how Hampton’s infant mortality rate is larger than Virginia’s rate. The latest compiled statistics compare the state having 6.7 deaths per 1000 live births, whereas Hampton Roads (the region Hampton is a part of) has 8.3 deaths per 1000 live births. In Virginia, the leading causes of infant deaths are birth defects, complications associated with preterm births, and SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). Hampton is a poorer city, so social determinants of health are associated with the infant mortality rates.

Ms. Serranolo also mentioned a very specific trend in the area: the mortality rate of African American women with breast cancer. She said that the rates of having breast cancer is equal between Caucasians and African Americans, but more African American women actually die from the cancer. Being a poorer area, this is most likely associated with determinants of health such as having employment that provides health insurance. Without the insurance, many African Americans cannot afford frequent healthcare checkups. A lack of education probably causes women to not even consider receiving mammograms.

Unplanned teenage pregnancy is also a significant problem in Hampton. The region that Hampton is a part of had 50.2 pregnancies per 1000 females age 15 to 19. Over the past decade, the number of teen pregnancies has declined, but the regional average has been consistently greater than the state average. In this area, characterized with low amounts of people with health insurance, young mothers are unable to receive adequate prenatal care. This leads to low birth weights and other physical and mental developmental challenges.

Another issue that Hampton faces is one that is typical of the United States: Obesity. Hampton Roads has the 2^nd lowest obesity rate in the state of Virginia, with 25.3% obesity. Unlike unplanned teen pregnancy and infant mortality rate, the obesity rate has been steadily increasing over the last ten years. However, the rates are lower than the state and national averages, 26.4% and 27.6% respectively.

Finally, Ms. Serranolo told me that diabetes is an important issue in her work. She said that the rates of diabetes are evenly spread across ethnicities. Hampton has a rate of 10.8%, which is higher than the state average of 9.3%. For this trend, and some of the other ones Ms. Serranolo spoke about, it seemed like she put more emphasis on the public health concerns where the city's rates were worse than Virginia’s.