Report Offers Health Data On All US Counties.

 The Wall Street Journal  (4/4, Beck) "Health Blog" reports on the 2012 third annual County Health Rankings  , which includes data on smoking, obesity, exercise, pollution, and fast food restaurants culled from such places as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Census Bureau for all 3,005 counties. It was developed and funded by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It also includes suggestions for improving the health of counties. The project will even award prizes to six counties for improvements.

        CQ  (4/4, Bristol, Subscription Publication) explains that the report "shows a decided correlation between more education and better health." That also means a correlation with "higher incomes, lower unemployment rates and having insurance." The report's producers "hope the information will change the conversation about health from medical care to more community-based activities." And "even relatively healthy areas have room for improvement, researchers said."
        The Los Angeles Times  (4/4, Gorman) reports in its "LA Now" blog, "Researchers determined the health of a county using five main factors: premature deaths, low-birth-weight infants, the percent of people who say they are in poor or fair health and the number of days people reporting being in poor physical or said they were in poor mental health." San Bernardino County "is pushing every city to launch a 'healthy-communities' initiative to improve residents' health," and one official said that as a result, "there is more awareness among residents about what improves health, including eating better and getting more exercise." Los Angeles County "approved an ordinance requiring new developments to have wider sidewalks and bicycle parking and making it easier for communities to start gardens and hold farmers markets."
        USA Today  (4/4, Kennedy) reports that "excessive drinking rates are highest in the Northern states, while Southern states have the highest rates of teen births, sexually transmitted infections and children in poverty." The article touts improvements made in Hernando, Mississippi where the mayor has held "a health fair for city employees" and the town "requires all new developments to include sidewalks to make it easier for residents to walk and exercise." Hernando's mayor has also "started working with other communities nearby to show them what worked."

        The Houston Chronicle  (4/4, Kever) reports, "Better-educated people tend to be healthier," which "helps to explain why suburban residents generally ranked higher on health outcomes and on factors that influence those outcomes - smoking, poverty levels, educational attainment and access to health care." But, in an exception, "The border counties of Texas have high rates of poverty and low rates of education, but some of the highest rates of longevity," which is credited to "close-knit families and healthy lifestyles." The Time  (4/4, Park) "Healthland" blog also covers the story.