Come plague, storm or bomb, most U.S. states unprepared: report

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK, Dec 19 (Reuters) - If you're someone who worries about how first responders and hospitals in your town would perform after a hurricane like Sandy, a Joplin tornado, an anthrax mailing, an outbreak of bird flu or other health threat, a new study has some pointers: stay away from Kansas and Montana. But you might want to consider moving to Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Vermont or Wisconsin. On Wednesday, two nonprofit groups released "Ready or Not?", a 79-page analysis of public health preparedness - that is, the ability of hospitals, health departments and others to prevent and respond to emergencies ranging from bioterrorism to influenza outbreaks to catastrophic weather. It's a grim reckoning. The assessment is based on how many of 10 key benchmarks a state met, such as whether it holds drills to make sure public health workers can respond quickly to, say, a catastrophic release of radiation, and whether its labs can work overtime to identify a mystery disease. This year, thirty-five states met fewer than seven of the 10 benchmarks. Only five met eight of 10. In 2010, in contrast, more states made the grade: 17 met at least nine benchmarks and 25 met seven or eight. No state met fewer than five. In the new report, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Vermont and Wisconsin scored highest, meeting eight out of 10 preparedness benchmarks. Kansas and Montana brought up the rear, meeting three. Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota and Virginia met seven of the 10 criteria. "We have not paid sufficient attention to the everyday threats" such as influenza and food poisoning and extreme weather, said Dr. Jeffrey Levi, president of the Trust for America's Health, which produced the report with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. There's a reason for that, say experts on preparedness. After the Sept. 11 attacks and the anthrax mailings of 2001, public health preparedness became synonymous with being ready for bioterrorism. Starting in 2002, states began receiving upward of $1 billion a year from the federal government - $13.6 billion so far - to prevent and respond to public health emergencies. "But it was all about anthrax and other bioterrorism instead of the other things that might come over the transom, such as bird flu," said health policy analyst Art Kellerman of RAND, a Santa Monica, California-based think tank, who was not involved in the report. Because the federal money came with tight restrictions - a state health employee working on, say, early-detection systems for a bioterror attack was prohibited from working on anything else - "you had a shifting of attention and resources away from preparing for all hazards to biodefense only," Kellerman said. "It was like we built a biodefense skyscraper at the same time that we took the concrete out of the foundation." http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/19/usa-health-preparedness-idUSL1E8NIEHA20121219

Health rankings: USA is living longer, but sicker

Medical advances are allowing more people to live with obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. Michelle Healy, USA TODAY Americans are living longer, with fewer deaths from heart disease and cancer, but more chronic illnesses, an annual snapshot of the USA's health shows. The 2012 America's Health Rankings highlight troubling levels of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and sedentary behavior. Medical advances are allowing more people to live with those conditions. The bottom line: Americans "are living longer, sicker" with more chronic illness, says Reed Tuckson of theUnited Health Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation that sponsors the report with the American Public Health Association and the Partnership for Prevention. Among the unhealthy behaviors the report cites: More than a quarter (26.2%) of all Americans are sedentary, defined as not doing any physical activity outside of work for 30 days. But it's 36% in Mississippi, and 35.1% in both Tennessee and West Virginia. 27.8% of U.S. adults are obese, defined as being roughly 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight. That's 66 million people — more than the entire population of the United Kingdom. In even the least obese state, Colorado, more than 20% of the population is obese. The percentage of adults with diabetes is 9.5% nationally, but it's 12% or higher in West Virginia, South Carolina and Mississippi. 30.8% of U.S. adults have high blood pressure, but that ranges from a low of 22.9% in Utah to a high of 40.1% in Alabama. High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a primary risk for cardiovascular disease — problems related to the heart and the blood vessel. Life expectancy in the USA is now 78.5 years; premature deaths have dropped 18% since 1990, and deaths from cardiovascular disease are down 34.6%. Cancer deaths are down 7.6%. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/12/10/health-rankings-states/1759299/

U.S. loosens rules aimed at healthier school meals

By Susan Heavey | Reuters – Mon, Dec 10, 2012 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are relaxing school meal rules aimed at reining in calories and portion sizes after some students, parents and lawmakers complained that new stricter policies left many children hungry. Under the adjustment, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would suspend daily and weekly maximum amounts for grains and meat or meat alternatives. That means school districts this year can serve larger portions of those items without penalty. USDA officials said late Friday they were loosening the regulations after some schools found it difficult to buy alternative portion sizes of such foods from suppliers. Some also said they had inventory to use up that does not meet the new guidelines. "School nutrition professionals have faced significant menu planning, operating, financial challenges and more as a result of the new meal pattern requirements," it said in a statement. USDA's move follows complaints from some students that the revised meals left them hungry. The modified meals, which aim to limit fat and salt as well as curb portion sizes and boost fruits and vegetables servings, took effect at the start of the 2012 school year in late August and early September. Schools that adopt the changes get more money back from the federal government, in part to offset the higher prices of healthier foods. Schools are a top focus because they provide meals to many low-income students, who are often the most at-risk for being overweight or obese. In 2011, more than 31 million children received free or low-cost school lunches and more than 10 million received free or discounted breakfasts, according to USDA. Margo Wootan, a nutrition policy expert at Center for Science in the Public Interest, welcomed the change to give struggling schools more options this year without having Congress interfere with the fundamental law. "Nutritionally, this change is minor and doesn't undermine the overall nutrition standards," said Wootan, whose health advocacy group backed the 2010 law. Erik Olson, head of food programs at Pew Charitable Trusts' health group, said calorie limits remain intact but schools will "have much more flexibility about how they present meals that kids will want to eat," calling it "a fairly modest readjustment." (Additional reporting by Charles Abbott; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) http://news.yahoo.com/u-loosens-rules-aimed-healthier-school-meals-191212619--sector.html