A new report ranks Ohio near the bottom when it comes to handling outbreaks of infectious disease.
The state received a three out of possible 10 points in the report by the Trust for America's Health.
Dr. Jeffery Levi runs the Trust. He says Ohio falls short in several areas.
"We were looking at a series of policies and indicators that would reflect the degree to which a state still has significant work to do in either improving things like immunization rates or putting policies in place that would really strengthen the public health system," Levi said.
Ohio tied six other states for last place in the Trust for America's Health study.
The below transcript is an automated transcript of the above conversation. Please excuse minor typos and errors.
Marilyn Smith: Ohio apparently ranked near the bottom when it came to outbreaks of infections. What was measured?
Jeffery Levi: We were looking at a series of policies and indicators that would reflect the degree to which a state still has significant work to do in either improving things like immunization rates or putting policies in place that would really strengthen the public health system.
MS: Spending on public health in Ohio was cut. How significant was that?
JL: One of the challenges that I think we face throughout the country is that particularly when it comes to outbreaks or infectious diseases we pay attention in the middle of a crisis. So we saw that last year with Ebola and then when the crisis goes away we become a little bit complacent.
And yet, what this report tries to emphasize is that some of the routine infectious diseases like seasonal flu, some of the infectious diseases that are usually controlled by vaccines, but because we haven't been aggressive enough in making sure that kids get vaccinated we are seeing an uptick in whooping cough and in measles.
And so it's the routine as well as the novel that we need to be prepared for. And that's why, three of the indicators here are that Ohio did not achieve that was one on funding which tells us how much the state is really. continuing its investment in building a strong public health system. But also flu vaccination rates were below the national average and Ohio doesn't have a strong policy of limiting exemptions for childhood immunizations.
So those are the kinds of things that really make a difference in terms of the capacity of a public health system to do its job. Some of them involve money, but some of them are also just strictly policy decision.
MS: The state medical director in response to your report says that the state has taken steps to strengthen immunization requirements for example against meningitis and requiring immunizations at childcare facilities. Is it too little too late? As far as the actual report goes.
JL: Those are certainly important steps to be taken. The measure we looked at was around exemptions related to school attendance. And so doing something when childcare centers is really important and certainly contributes.
You know we can only look at 10 factors in a report like this and so we could not look at everything. This is a snapshot. These are a series of indicators. Clearly there are other things that complete the picture of what is going on in a state, and while we applaud those other measures these are also important.
MS: Well I mentioned to you that spending on public health had been cut, it's still pretty significant up around $582 million. Could that money be spent better?
JL: That's always a good question, and of course money could always be spent more effectively. But I don't know of a single jurisdiction in the United States where public health is truly able to support all of the foundational capabilities that really comprise a strong and effective health department.
That's not to say that health departments and Ohio are ineffective, but probably could all be doing more to prevent disease. Whether we look at that vaccine preventable diseases, whether we look at upticks for example in HIV and Hepatitis C because of the increased heroin epidemic, or we look at the continuing challenge of opioid use and misuse.
Those all our new public health challenges and, you can't keep up with those changes with level funding or diminished funding.