Learning Activity: Virginia’s Health Rankings

Overview

Health Rankings are an important part of understanding the health of a population. As a public health practitioner, you cannot address the needs of a population without first knowing where they are health-wise. In this assignment, you will look, specifically, at the Health Rankings for the state of Virginia. This will help identify where Virginia is doing well and where the state needs to make improvements. This knowledge will help identify those areas where Virginia needs to focus its public health efforts. This assignment will provide a baseline for you for future learning activities in the course.

Instructions

Go to the Explore: America’s Health Rankings item in the assigned Learn section, and then select “Virginia” where it says, “Find your state”. View the full state report for Virginia. Examine the state’s health value and rank for each health Determinant and Outcome, as well as the combined rankings for these and for diabetes, obesity, and smoking. You can compare these for the years that the rankings have been published as well as contrast them with other states and the nation as a whole.

Although Virginia’s overall health ranking has improved some in recent years, historically, it has remained around the 19/20 rank. What factors do you think have led to an improvement in recent years? What other factors still remain that Virginia can continue to improve upon? Select 5Determinants that if improved, would likely lead to Virginia receiving a better health ranking in the future. Justify your answers in 400–500 words total.

Your assignment should be in AMA format. You should cite your work, including a citation for the American Health Rankings website, at minimum. You may include other relevant sources, as needed. Acceptable sources include other government resources, textbooks and scholarly articles.

Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool. Link: America’s Health Rankings | AHR (americashealthrankings.org)