The Iowa Department of Public Health has released a report on our state’s efforts to improve the health of Iowans. Here a few successes:
• Crash fatalities in 2013 were down to a record low of 318 compared with an average of 371 between 2009 and 2012.
• Meth labs have decreased. In 2013, 290 labs were seized, down from 382 in 2010. That’s about 80 percent below the state’s high of 1,500 meth labs seized in 2004.
• The percentage of overweight children in the Women, Infants & Children’s program has dropped. In general, young children who have a healthy weight grow up without weight problems.
To see more healthy successes and to review Iowa’s Health Improvement Plan, visit www.idph.state.ia.us/adper/healthy_iowans_plan.asp.