1. HRSA Launches New Project on Community Health Status Indicators The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), in collaboration with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), the National Association of County and City Health Officials, and the Public Health Foundation recently launched a new project called The Community Health Status Indicators Project (CHSI). CHSI provides data on health status indicators in all 3,082 counties in the United States. The site allows people to gauge their county's health compared to that of peer counties and see how their county stands in meeting specific goals such as those set by the Healthy People 2010 initiative. In particular, the CHSI presents data on: * Population characteristics * Four summary measures of health * Leading causes of death * Measures of birth and death * Vulnerable populations * Environmental health * Preventive services usage * Risk factors for premature death * Access to care The data primarily comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Center for Health Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the Environmental Protection Agency, HRSA's Area Resource File, HRSA's Bureau of Primary Health Care, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 2. Nations Health Corporation Web Site It provides a wide variety of free health-related statistics at state, county, metro, and health service levels. The data include behavioral risk information, vital statistics, physician and hospital data, and Medicare statistics and there is a QuickStats feature. This organization is creating a data warehouse that you can read about on their site. Funded partially by NIH, it will integrate dozens of existing data sets and allow manipulation of the data and output of reports, tables, maps, and charts, from the national level down to the census block. 3. Covering Kids Launches National Back-to-School Campaign On Wednesday, 9 August, Covering Kids held a national news conference in Washington, DC to kickoff its national Back-to-School enrollment campaign. National media covering the event included: CNN, MS-NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, Univision, NPR, the Associated Press, United Press International, American Healthline, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Wall Street Journal. The resulting news stories, many of which were featured on the front page of statewide and local newspapers, resulted in phones ringing off the hook with families seeking applications and further information. 4. New Study Calls for Improvement in Maternal and Child Health Services A report by the National Women's Law Center, the University of Pennsylvania and The Lewin Group recommends improvement in women's health and well-being through state and federal policies that emphasize health promotion and disease prevention, research on women's health issues, and increased access to health insurance and health care services. The report grades states on a number of women's health status indicators. The report finds that: * No state has met the Healthy People 2000 goal that 90.0 percent of all pregnant women receive prenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy. * Maine had the highest rate of prenatal care during the first trimester (89.9 percent). * Washington, DC had the lowest rate of prenatal care during the first trimester (64.6 percent). * Only three states (New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Washington) have met the Healthy People 2000 goal for maternal mortality (3.3 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births). * New Hampshire had the lowest maternal death rate (1.9 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births). * Washington, DC had the highest maternal death rate (22.8 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births). * The maternal mortality ratio among Black women is almost four times greater than that for White women. * 18 states have met the Healthy People 2000 goal to reduce infant mortality rates to 7 infant deaths per 1,000 live births. * Massachusetts had the lowest infant mortality rates, with 5.2 infant deaths per 1,000 live births. * Washington, DC had the highest infant mortality rates, with 15.9 infant deaths per 1,000 live births. * The infant mortality rate among Blacks is more than double that of Whites or Hispanics. Executive Summary of "Making the Grade on Women's Health: A National and State-by-State Report Card" August 2000. National Women's Law Center, University of Pennsylvania, and The Lewin Group.