Public Health in AZ - Caroline Bailey

Caroline Bailey

Health 100

13 November 2012

                I called the Arizona Department for Health and Services and I spoke with Laura Oxley. She told me that Arizona’s public health plan consists of 5 “winnable battles.” The first one she mentioned was promoting physical activity and nutrition to reduce obesity. Obesity has become a significant problem in the United States and specifically in Arizona. In order to reduce obesity, Arizona designates September as Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Elementary schools in Arizona work hard to incorporate lots of physical activity and promote healthy among younger children as to decrease obesity with their growing generation.

                The second “winnable battle” Laura mentioned was to reduce tobacco use and substance abuse. More and more people are becoming aware of the dangers of the use of tobacco and other substances but most people still do not realize how truly risky it is. Abuse of such dangerous substances leads to other physical and mental health problems. Recently, Arizona showed a decrease in the children of ages 12 and older of cocaine use. This shows promising results but as a community we still need to aim to reduce drug abuse.

The third “winnable battle” she mentioned was to reduce health care associated infections and readmissions. Health care associated infections are a great challenge in Arizona. Infections acquired during health care treatment can escalate and become devastating but the irony is that these infections are preventable. About 1 out of every 20 patients in the United States has contracted an infection while receiving health treatment. Recently, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials developed a tool kit called Eliminating HealthCare Associated Infections: State Policy Options which provides a helpful and preventable program.

                Another important “winnable battle” that Arizona focuses on is reducing suicide. Arizona is one of the leading states for suicide. As technology advances and social media takes over our lives, suicide rates also increase. Suicide Prevention Centers are now using “At-Risk” programs to train school educators to identify the signs with their students of depression or possible suicide. It is totally possible for Arizona to take the necessary measures to reduce suicide.

The last “winnable battle” for Arizona Health that was mentioned by Laura is to reduce teen pregnancy. A bill was passed within recent years in Arizona requiring that an annual abortion report be produced. The most recent report shows that there were 14,401 abortions in Arizona in one calendar year.  Within the past couple of years, Arizona has reduced its teen pregnancy by 30%. This may be true but abortions and teen pregnancy is still an issue that occurs. The problem still needs to be addressed and Arizona Health needs to continue to take action to reduce teen pregnancy.