Mississippi’s public health report card for 2023 was released on Thursday, displaying a dire need for improvement in treating major diseases while also showing a few positive trends in the state.
The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) issued the report and broke it down into categories of where the state needs to improve, where progress has been made, and what will be done to tackle healthcare issues that continue to plague residents.
Where Mississippi has room to improve
Mississippi remains one of the lowest-ranking states in major diseases and important health indicators like infant and maternal mortality. It’s currently the worst in the nation in pregnancy-related deaths of mothers and infants.
According to the MDHS, heart disease is the state’s leading cause of death, and Mississippi’s rates of heart disease are among the nation’s highest.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death. Mississippi’s high rates of cancer and cancer deaths are caused partly by lack of regular screening tests, and partly by lifestyle factors like diet and physical activity.
Mississippi has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the U.S., a dangerous long-term chronic disease that causes disability and, in many cases, death. High obesity rates contribute to all these causes of chronic illness and early death.
Many major causes of illness and death that hold Mississippi back are preventable by improvements in community and individual health.
Where Mississippi has seen slight growth
In the past year, Mississippi has shown some improvement in pregnancy-related deaths, according to officials, which may indicate improvements in healthcare during pregnancy and in the first year of a child’s life.
Mississippi has improved its diabetes standing, moving up from 50th to 48th nationally.
In the past few years, Mississippi has moved from 50th in the nation for obesity to 45th. Improving obesity rates can mean improvement in heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
Deaths related to opioid use have fallen by 10 percent, and tuberculosis rates continue their gradual downward trend.
What state healthcare leaders are doing to move Mississippi forward
In addition to its disease prevention programs, MSDH has started new programs in 2023 to help address some of the barriers to public health improvement.
- Transportation to health program provides free rides to health department appointments to make access to care and prevention services easier for populations that need it most.
- MSDH now offers free blood pressure and blood sugar screenings at all county health departments to help detect heart disease and diabetes early.
- We continue to help provide cancer screening and health services for women and children at risk, and diabetes management programs to help bring this common disease under control.
The full report can be found here.
