CDC’s Prevention Status Reports Now Available Online

This week, CDC released its Prevention Status Reports (PSRs) that highlight the status of state-level policies and practices designed to prevent 10 important public health problems.

The PSRs are a set of individual reports that focus on specific health topics for all 50 states, including the District of Columbia. The reports provide information for decision makers and state health officials to review their states’ health status and identify areas of improvement.

Among the 10 health topics included are the Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity reports that highlight the following four public health policies and practices:

Implementing nutrition standards to limit the availability of less nutritious foods and beverages in schools
Implementing nutrition standards for foods and beverages in state government facilities
Implementing nutrition and physical activity standards in state regulations of licensed child care facilities
Promoting evidence-based practices that support breastfeeding in hospitals and birth centers

Each report describes the public health problem, identifies potential solutions to the problem drawn from research and expert recommendations, and reports the status of those solutions for each state and the District of Columbia. A simple, three-level rating scale—green, yellow, or red—is used to describe the extent to which the state has implemented the specific policy or practice in accordance with the supporting evidence and/or expert recommendations

To help state health officials and other public health leaders use the PSRs, CDC also created thePSR Quick Start Guide. The Guide provides tips and tools for using the reports to increase the use of evidence-based public health practices and improve health outcomes at the state level.

More Information:

• Prevention Status Reports

• CDC Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity