HHS HealthBeat (February 8, 2013)

Not-so-healthy America

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

An international scorecard on health finds America at or near the bottom. Experts with the National Academy of Sciences looked at nine key health topics in 16 high-income nations. The topics include children dying in their first year, teen pregnancies, killings and injuries, drugs, obesity and diabetes, and heart and lung diseases.

The chair of the panel that wrote the report, Dr. Steven Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University, says society and government can improve a lot – and individuals can, also:

“The conditions that are responsible for this U.S. health disadvantage – every single one of them – are things that individuals can help prevent or reduce their risk.”

Some examples: pregnancy health care, and being physically active.

The report was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at healthfinder.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: February 8, 2013