NORTH CAROLINA
Ranking:
North Carolina is 36th this year, unchanged from 2006.
Strengths: Strengths
include a low prevalence of binge drinking at 11.2 percent of the
population, ready access to adequate prenatal care with 80.8
percent of pregnant women receiving adequate prenatal care and
high immunization coverage with 82.3 percent of children ages 19
to 35 months receiving complete immunizations.
Challenges:
Challenges include a high rate of uninsured population at 17.9
percent, a high infant mortality rate at 8.8 deaths per 1,000 live
births, a high premature death rate with 8,472 years of potential
life lost before age 75 per 100,000 population, a low high school
graduation rate with 71.4 percent of incoming ninth graders who
graduate within four years and a high percentage of children in
poverty at 20.5 percent of persons under age 18.
Significant
Changes:
↑ In the past
year, the percentage of children in poverty increased from 18.3
percent to 20.5 percent of persons under age 18.
↑ In the past
year, the rate of uninsured population increased from 15.3 percent
to 17.9 percent.
↓ Since 1990,
the incidence of infectious disease decreased from 28.8 to 19.3
cases per 100,000 population.
↓ Since 1990,
the prevalence of smoking declined from 31.6 percent to 22.1
percent of the population.
Health
Disparities: In
North
Carolina,
blacks experience 54 percent more premature death than whites.
Deaths from cancer in the state are 24 percent more prevalent
among blacks than whites. In the large metropolitan areas,
residents in the central counties experience 17 percent less
premature death than residents in the fringe counties.
State Health
Department Web Site:
www.dhhs.state.nc.us/
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