Many studies have ranked Mississippi among the bottom of the national scale in terms of issues facing the country. In a three-year study the Center for Disease Control recently conducted, the state ranks among the top, but the reasons are not necessarily positive.
The CDC ranked Mississippi the fattest state, finding two-thirds of its population overweight or obese, according to a CDC press release.
Mississippi is also ranked No. 1 in infant mortality and No. 3 in adult smoking.
State Rep. Sidney Bondurant, member of Mississippi’s human health and public service committee, said 25 percent of adults that live in Mississippi smoke.
“If we can get pregnant women who are smoking to quit, that makes a huge difference in infant mortality,” he said.
This is Mississippi’s third time to rank No.1 in obesity, and now other health problems, such as syphilis and tuberculosis cases are on the rise.
Syphilis cases increased 75 percent in Mississippi last year while tuberculosis cases rose for the first time in 16 years, according to the press release.
Over the past four years, the state legislature has cut general fund support of the Health Department by almost 35 percent.
State Rep. Diane Peranich said the cuts are due to Mississippi’s dependency on the federal government for money.
“Mississippi is a state that depends on transfer of payments from the federal government to the state. The state did not have the ability to fill the gap in the general fund,” she said. “The cutbacks in federal programs are a serious problem.”
Mississippians’ unhealthy habits are now becoming expensive to the state, according to the press release.
An estimated $117 billion a year is being used for preventable health care expenditures and pushing the health care system to a breaking point. The Mississippi State Board of Health recently approved an additional $16 million increase to the current $36.9 million budget.
$600,000 will be delegated immediately to hire eight to ten nurses and three to four disease investigators throughout the state.
There are currently 212 vacant field positions due to lack of funding, which health officers believe is a factor in rising health problems.
“If you don’t have front-line people out there working, like nurses and investigators, then it just falls on the few people that are there to do more work,” Bondurant said. “As time increases, there is a higher chance for these infections to spread, and then we have a higher number of diseases.”
“In his first board meeting since being appointed Interim State Health Officer, Ed Thompson presented a plan to the Mississippi State Board of Health to redirect state resources to fund front-line field positions in county Health Departments,” a news release from the Mississippi State Health Department said.
Ninety-nine percent of the additional funding will go towards field services and increasing staff to battle rising health problems.
Also, a committee has been formed to evaluate the deaths of infants whose mothers received prenatal medical assistance from Health Department clinics in an attempt to reduce infant death in Mississippi.
Twenty percent of expectant mothers receive prenatal care from the Health Department and it is imperative that more nurses are hired, according to the press release.
Health problems are being taken on by focus groups throughout the state, such as the Longest Student Health Center. The self-funded health center makes multiple efforts to educate students and the community on physical well-being.
The health center provides free presentations to groups about sexual health, eating and exercise habits and an array of together topics, said director Robert Cadenhead.
“We are considered a fairly healthy school,” Cadenhead said, “and I believe our education and outreach studies are a key part of that.”
Bulldogs in Motion is a program the health center helps sponsor that challenges participants to improve eating and exercise habits.
Last year more than 100 people lost a collective amount of more than 1,200 pounds through Bulldogs in Motion.
The health center offers services such as vaccines and believes that preventative medicine is key in putting a halt to the spread of health problems.
The Mississippi Health Department is currently discussing the new budget and where the limited funding will be delegated.
“We need to look seriously at the funding for health,” Peranich said. “We have not done what we should, but at the same time a small state does not always have the ability to fill the gap.