New Report Finds Indiana May Not Be Prepared for Public Health Emergency

Indiana may not be as prepared as it should be for responding to public health emergencies, according to a recent study from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Trust for America’s Health.

In fact, in a new report that grades states on a scale from one to 10 in regards to factors like public health funding, community response time to public health incidents, percent of vaccination goals met, and climate change adaption plans, Indiana scored only five out of 10 points.

However, Indiana ranks in as the "average" along with 13 other states including Illinois and Texas. Kansas and Montana scored the lowest with 3 out of 10, while the highest scores went to Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Vermont and Wisconsin – all scoring eight out of 10.

Health officials say that it is the reverberations of the economic crisis that is to blame for this year’s low scores across the board, since public health funding has been cut dramatically in many states since 2010.

[Healthy Americans]