Delaware ranks among the best in the nation in infectious disease prevention and control according to a new report.
Compiled by the DC nonprofit Trust for America’s Health (TAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the report looked at 10 criteria. Delaware met seven of those criteria.
The measures include immunizing teens against HPV, increasing vaccination education, bolstering public health labs capacity to handle surges in testing and others.
New Hampshire ranked highest in the report, meeting eight criteria. Delaware was one of seven states hitting seven of 10.
TAH executive director Jeffrey Levi says despite Delaware’s high ranking, there is more ground to cover in terms of combating infectious diseases.
“Hepatitis C would be a perfect example – where there are new treatments and so doing more to make sure that, particularly [baby boomers] who might be infected with Hepatitis C and not know it, learn their status to see if they can take advantage of these new treatments that represent a cure,” said Levi.
34 states met five or fewer criteria in the report.
Levi notes that most states also need to better educate residents about the HPV vaccine and include a public health aspect in their climate change adaptation plans.
Levi says some positive changes don’t have to be expensive. He points to insurance carriers covering HPV vaccines.
“But if school systems don’t require that kids have it, they’re less likely to," said Levi. "That’s a policy change. It doesn’t really cost any money. So there are things in [these] recommendations that don’t need to cost money that could make a difference in these health outcomes.”
Georgia, Nebraska and New Jersey came in last in the report's rankings, earning passing grades on just two out of the ten measures.