Sobering News on Women's Health
By Betsy Phillips in Phillips
Wed., Aug. 26 2009 @ 8:38AM
Rachel Walden over at Women's Health News links to the 2009 Tennessee Women's Health
Report Card. I feel like I should try to come up with something snarky and smart-ass to say about this, but holy god, these numbers have stunned me to the point that I can't see anything remotely funny.
We've failed to improve the number of babies born at very low birth weight. We got a 'D' in infant mortality. We have a 'D' in getting any prenatal care at all and one in ten Hispanic women don't get any. Big fat 'F' there. We have an 'F' in chlamydia, over all, with rates doubling among African American and Hispanic women. Syphilis, gonorrhea, and HIV are all 'F's, too.
And on and on and on.
We're in terrible shape. And I know it's good fun to act like health and morality are the same thing and so if only people would just shape up, but people, seriously, when you look at that report, the numbers attached to those grades indicate systemic problems, not just a bunch of women who can't behave themselves.
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| Even this is only fun until it turns on you. Tennessee has a "D" in breast cancer deaths. |
We've failed to improve the number of babies born at very low birth weight. We got a 'D' in infant mortality. We have a 'D' in getting any prenatal care at all and one in ten Hispanic women don't get any. Big fat 'F' there. We have an 'F' in chlamydia, over all, with rates doubling among African American and Hispanic women. Syphilis, gonorrhea, and HIV are all 'F's, too.
And on and on and on.
We're in terrible shape. And I know it's good fun to act like health and morality are the same thing and so if only people would just shape up, but people, seriously, when you look at that report, the numbers attached to those grades indicate systemic problems, not just a bunch of women who can't behave themselves.
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