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New Report Breaks Down National, State Health Trends
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The United Health Foundation’s new report provides a clear picture of the health of women, infants and children across the nation and here in California, which ranks seventh in the nation for the second consecutive year.

At the national level, the 2019 America’s Health Rankings Health of Women and Children Report shows the rates of teen suicide and child mortality have increased sharply since the inaugural report in 2016. However, despite these challenges, women and children have seen some successes, with encouraging improvements to decrease the rate of teen births and increase the rate of flu vaccinations among women.

Key national findings include:

• Teen suicide rate in the United States has increased 25 percent nationwide since the 2016 Report;

• Child mortality rate in the U.S. has increased 6 percent nationwide since the 2016 Report;

• Nation has made encouraging improvements to decrease the rate of teen births and smoking.

In California, the 2019 Health of Women and Children Report finds a low prevalence of smoking among women, low prevalence of tobacco use during pregnancy, and a low prevalence of two-plus adverse childhood experiences.

California challenges identified include: low prevalence of women with a dedicated health care provider; high cost of infant child care; low prevalence of supportive neighborhoods.

California highlights from the past year include: HPV immunization among males ages 13-17 increased 15 percent from 40.3 percent to 46.3 percent; teen births decreased 21 percent from 19.0 to 15.1 births per 1,000 females ages 15-19.

Trends measured over the past three years across the state include: food insecurity decreased 17 percent from 13.5 percent to 11.2 percent of households; infant child care cost increased 29 percent from 14.4 percent to 18.6 percent of married couple’s median income; and teen suicide increased 34 percent from 5.3 to 7.1 deaths per 100,000 adolescents ages 15-19.

For more information, visit: https://www.americashealthrankings.org/learn/reports/2019-health-of-women-and-children-report.