Making the Healthy Choice, the Easy Choice

Idaho's Healthy Communities Program is engaging communities and mobilizing partnerships to focus on chronic disease prevention. Utilizing the CDC's Community Health Assessment aNd Group Evaluation (CHANGE) Tool guide, and with the assistance of the Idaho's local public health districts, seven communities are working to assess the places and organizations that touch people’s lives every day—schools, work sites, health care sites, and other community settings—to turn the tide on the national epidemic of chronic diseases. Community members will be working together to create momentum that assists people in making healthy choices where they live, learn, work, and play through sustainable changes that address the major risk factors—tobacco, physical inactivity, and unhealthy eating.

Today, chronic diseases affect almost 50% of Americans and account for 7 of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States. Chronic diseases and conditions such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, obesity, and arthritis cause suffering and limitations to daily functioning. Preventable health risk factors such as tobacco use and exposure, insufficient physical activity, and poor nutrition contribute greatly to the development and severity of many chronic diseases. The Healthy Communities Program is helping to prevent chronic diseases by working to reduce health risk factors and attain health equity.