We published one of our most popular annual documents this month, our 500-page Arizona Health Status and Vital Statistics Annual Report. It provides refined health statistics on pregnancies, births, reportable diseases, deaths, inpatient hospitalizations, emergency room visits, marriages, divorces and population of the State. The site got more than 2,000,000 hits last year! The report provides needed data for health policy formulation, local, state, and federal programs and interventions, and resource allocation. All universities in the State utilize our Arizona-specific health status reports in classroom teaching.
In addition, we’ve prepared and published 17 (grant-funded) health status monitoring monographs on public health issues of special concern in the State such as mortality from exposure to excessive heat, community vital statistics, emergency room visit and inpatient hospitalization patterns, asthma, diabetes, alcohol & substance abuse, influenza and pneumonia, injury and behavioral health disorders. In the coming year, we’ll add a report called “Heart Disease v. Cancer: An Epidemiologic Transition in Mortality Risks”, which will highlight the fact that cancer has replaced heart disease as the leading cause of death in Arizona.
OK, but who is doing this work? Believe it or not, we do all this with just 2 Full Time Employees (Christopher Mrela and Clare Torres). But that’s not all they do… they also maintain and develop the popular website, systematically updating approximately 40 online reports, collect monthly marriage and divorce statistics from the Clerk of the Superior Court; develop customized annual population estimates; and respond to 2,500 requests annually from concerned individuals and health professionals in need of health status data, data-based information, and technical assistance.
