Focus on Health

Today I'm featuring a guest blog by Kristine Suozzi, Ph.D., Coordinator New Mexico Health Equity Working Group
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Dear Senator Feldman:
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the Healthy New Mexico Task Force town hall forum last week to address prevention and management of chronic diseases in New Mexico.  I appreciate the thought and background that went into the event.

I was especially impressed with the comprehensive report, Partnering for a Healthy Tomorrow:  Preventing and Managing Chronic Disease in New Mexico that was prepared by the DOH Chronic Disease Bureau in collaboration with New Mexico First.  I strongly agree with the report's premise that promoting physical activity, healthy eating, and tobacco control in our communities, schools and worksites is an effective way to prevent and manage the most common and expensive chronic diseases in our state. Accomplishing this through progressive policies and improvements to the built environment will require courage and commitment on the part of our elected officials. 

As you continue demonstrating leadership on chronic disease prevention, I encourage you to expand your focus beyond the healthcare system factors addressed in your 2008 legislation to more broadly address the social determinants of health.  These "upstream" factors, including neighborhood conditions, institutional power, and social inequalities, have a far greater influence on a person's lifestyle and risk for developing chronic diseases than his or her access to health care, as demonstrated in the graph below:

What Determines Health Status?

These are precisely the conclusions that were made in the World Health Organization Report which was recently released from the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, 2008.  They are also what the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Report Beyond Health Care:  New Directions to a Healthier America and the CDC in Healthy People 2020 recommend.   Finally, they are what other states like Oregon, Minnesota, California and others are addressing to change health outcomes.

I appreciate your attention to my comments and can be reached at 266-1421 if you have any questions.

Thank you.
Kristine Suozzi, Ph.D., Coordinator
New Mexico Health Equity Working Group

Comments

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The new report uses the same methodology as the IOM report, which found working-age Americans without health insurance are more likely to receive too little medical care and receive it too late, be sicker and die sooner