HEALTHY AZ 2010

Healthy Arizona 2010 emphasizes prevention over treatment, and the importance of all Arizona residents taking an active role in improving their own health.

"Healthy Arizona 2010 is a huge achievement -- it represents the commitment of hundreds of individuals and organizations working together to achieve a common vision," Eden said. "We’ve done a good job in public health -- fewer Arizonans are smoking, childhood immunization rates are among the highest in the country, breast cancer deaths are down and fewer children are being poisoned by lead. We have made real progress in reaching the goals set out in Healthy Arizona 2000."

Healthy Arizona 2010 challenges all Arizonans to do better in key areas:

Death rates associated with motor vehicle traffic injuries are the highest in the age group 15 to 24 years. In Arizona, rural teens were 1.9 times more likely to die from and motor vehicle-related injury than their urban counterparts in 1999. Healthy Arizona 2010 goal: reduce injury, disability and death caused by motor vehicle crashes.

In Arizona, the 1997 suicide mortality rate among adolescents 15-19 years old was 23.7 per 100,000, the second highest rate in the nation. Healthy Arizona 2010 goal: Increase community knowledge and understanding of depression and decrease the number of suicides by teens and older adults.

In Arizona, the teen pregnancy rate has decreased significantly in the last decade, but the pregnancy rate for Hispanic females in 1999 was two times the rate for white non-Hispanics. Healthy Arizona 2010 goal: Increase the proportion of adolescents who abstain from sexual intercourse.

The five year average 1994-1999 shows that 47.2 percent of Arizonans are considered overweight with a Body Mass Index greater than 25.0. What’s more, the same average shows that only 22.2 percent to 23 percent of Arizona residents eats 5 or more fruits and vegetables per day. Health Arizona 2010 goal: Increase the proportion of residents who consume at least two daily servings of fruit and at least three daily servings of vegetables.

Copies of the Healthy Arizona 2010 are available from the Arizona Department of Health by calling (602) 364-2401 or by visiting the Arizona Department of Health Services’ Web site at http://www.hs.state.az.us.

Email: bishops@azdhs.gov

~Leadership for a Healthy Arizona~