Every year Georgia report looks at public health in the Peach State – Jagwire

The fourth edition of the report “Healthy Georgia: Our State of Public Health” has been released by the Institute of Public and Preventive Health in the School of Public Health of Augusta University.

Within the 64 pages of the report is a snapshot of how healthy Georgians are compared with civilians in the 12 states that are part of the southeastern region (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina Tennessee, Tennessee, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia) and the entire United States. The 2025 edition deals with 31 health topics and has been expanded this year with multimorbidity; Long Covid-19; HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections; opioid and methamphetamine drug use; suicides; And vapen.

“As the prominent public health sciences and medical research university of Georgia, Augusta University plays a crucial role in discussions about the health of our state’s health,” said President Russell T. Keen, president of Augusta University. “Although our School of Public Health is the newest in the state, our Institute of Public and Preventive Health has been making important contributions for many years and our Georgia Prevention Institute has already done for decades. Faculty researchers from our university, including the School of Public Health, the Medical College of Georgia, the Dental College of Georgia, the Georgia Cancer Center, the Immunology Center of Georgia, as well as the College of Allied Health Sciences, The College of Nursing and the College of Education and Human Development are committed to improving the health of all Georgians, and this report is an essential part of that process. “

The report was delivered to legislators, community leaders and researchers in Georgia to give them tangible figures on how Georgia is doing in various areas.

“Every year we strive to issue a better, more extensive report than the year before, and this year is no exception,” said J. Aaron Johnson, PhD, director of IPPH and associated Dean for research and community involvement at SPH . “Dr. Data and his team have worked hard to collect and analyze and present the most recent data in a way that will stimulate conversations about the needs of public health in our state and in turn promote action, including policy changes, larger Community involvement and the assessment of funds that help all Georgians live a healthier life.

The mission of the School of Public Health is tackling Georgia’s clear challenges in the field of public health through exceptional education, innovative research and collaboration community.

“The Healthy Georgia report is an important tool for emphasizing the health of Georgians and to emphasize opportunities for improvement,” said Teresa Waters, PhD, founding Dean or SPH. “I am proud of the work that Dr. Data and his team have put into this report and continue to expand the discussed topics, so that it can better serve our policy makers, health care professionals and the citizens of Georgia.”

BIPLAB DATTA, PhD, university teacher at the Department of Health Management, Economics and Policy in SPH, leads the IPPH Faculty and Personnel team who prepare the report every year. DATTA credits Jen Jaremski, Research Associate, and Kit Wooten, Public Health Analyst, with a large part of the work to bring the report to life. Together, Jaremski and Wooten have collected and organized all the necessary assets and organized the 64 -page document, preparing for print and internet.

“Every year we strive to present data in a way that policy makers can find useful in making policy choices,” said Datta. “There are various new topics that have been added to this year’s report and some of them are related to the state of Georgia, in particular the transferable diseases such as HIV, Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. High prevalence rates of these conditions in Georgia, compared to the rest of the US and the southeastern region, justify the attention of the community of public health. “

Georgia has the second highest percentage of HIV infections in the US, fourth highth highth percentages of gonorrhea, sixth highest for Chlamydia and 13th for syphilis.

Something that is also new in this year’s report is a comparison of figures from 2019, or before the COVID-19 Pandemie began, compared to after the pandemic for certain disorders.

Also from the Pandemie, the report looks at how long Covid Georgians has influenced, whereby the state ranks 24th in the nation for the rates of Long Covid. According to the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Long Covid is defined as a chronic condition that occurs after COVID-19 infection and is present for at least three months.

In addition to looking at comparisons between Georgia and the southeast and the nation, DATTA noted that a clearer picture is starting to create the difference in urban and rural areas in the state.

“For various chronic conditions, such as hypertension, diabetes and multimorbidity, we clearly see a striking difference between rural and urban residents of Georgia,” said Datta.

Hypertension affects 44.1% of adults in Georgia countryside compared to 35% in urban areas, while diabetes are 17.5% of adults in Georgia countryside compared to 12.3% of those in urban areas. Hypertension and diabetes are important risk factors for cardiovascular disease, which are 12.2% of adults in rural areas compared to 8.3% of adults in urban areas of Georgia.

“Hypertension and diabetes are the most important risk factors for heart conditions, which is the most important cause of death in the US and worldwide, so these are some of the figures,” said Datta.

Multimorbidity, that is when a person has several chronic disorders, including obesity, asthma, chronic obstructive lung disease, depression, kidney disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, cancer, skin cancer and arthritis, influences 57.4% of the Adults in adults in adults in adults in adults in adults in adults in adults in adults in adult national Georgia compared to 49% of adults in urban areas of the state. These rates are considerably lower than the rest of the southeast, but on the same footing with the rest of the country.

When comparing Georgia with the American national average, adults in Georgia have a lower percentages of cancer and methamphetamine use, but higher percentages of asthma in children and obesity for adults. At the same time, the number of adult asthma and adult obesity at Georgians were comparable to the averages that were seen in the southeast. It is interesting that, although the coverage of health insurance for adults was considerably lower than the American national and southeast regional averages, the coverage of health insurance in Georgia was comparable to both national and regional averages.