County Health Rankings: Advancing Policies to Build Healthier Communities

The second year of the County Health Rankings is well underway. Already counties are taking proactive steps to address local health concerns through new programs, awareness campaigns and, increasingly, through laws and policy initiatives.

Smoke-free air laws are among the most celebrated examples of how laws and policies promote health, guaranteeing that everyone has clean air to breathe. It’s also one of the most common areas to which communities look to improve their county health ranking  because tobacco is one of the leading causes of preventable death in the United State and studies show that decreasing the prevalence of tobacco use by even one percent can yield billions in savings.

Policies range from making workplaces smoke free to increasing taxes on cigarettes. Mississippi is an example of a state in which cities passed the most local smoke-free air laws and policies in 2010. Smokefree Air Mississippi is a major step to limit exposure to secondhand smoke in public places and workplaces in a state with one of the highest rates of adult smoking in the country – about 24 percent, according to the 2011 County Health Rankings.

• Read the full article via the Network for Public Health Law

Image courtesy of dichohecho's photostream, Flickr.com Creative Commons