Strengths:

• High immunization coverage
• Low incidence of infectious disease
• Low prevalence of binge drinking

 

Challenges:

• Low per capita public health funding
• High infant mortality rate
• High percentage of children in poverty

 

Highlights:

• In the past five years, the percentage of children in poverty increased from 18.3 percent to 27.6 percent of persons under age 18.
• In the past ten years, diabetes increased from 6.4 percent to 9.8 percent of adults. There are now 927,000 adults with diabetes in the state.
• In the past ten years, obesity increased from 21.8 percent to 28.6 percent of adults; now, there are 2.7 million obese adults in North Carolina.
• While smoking has decreased from 26.1 percent to 19.8 percent of adults in the past ten years, 1.9 million adults still smoke in the state.

 

Disparities:

• In North Carolina, obesity is more prevalent among non-Hispanic blacks at 42.4 percent than non-Hispanic whites at 26.7 percent and Hispanics at 27.0 percent. Diabetes also varies by race and ethnicity in the state; 15.3 percent of non-Hispanic blacks have diabetes compared to 8.7 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 4.9 percent of Hispanics.

 

State Health Department Web Site: www.dhhs.state.nc.us