WHERE WE’RE LAGGING
Child Abuse
Along with asking whether Spokane’s numbers are improving or worsening, measuring whether we’re keeping up with national and state progress can provide context. Even in some areas where we’re improving, like smoking among pregnant women, the region remains far behind.
Spokane County (2011):
Maternal Smoking
Percentage of births in which the mother smoked during pregnancy
Spokane County (2011): 15.9% Washington state (2011): 8.9% United States (2010): 9.2%
A
mong Spokane’s biggest challenges highlighted in this set of data is smoking among pregnant women. It’s a practice that not only presents well-known dangers to the smoker, but can result in low birth weight or preterm birth, according to the health district. In Spokane in 2011,
Number of victims reported by Child Protective Services, per 1,000 children
48.1 Washington state (2011): 33.7 the rate of births to women who smoked during pregnancy was nearly twice the statewide rate. Again, says the health district’s Conley, Spokane’s lower rates of education and income are at play. Younger women with less education and lower incomes, often facing more stress just to survive than their richer or better educated peers, are more likely to smoke during pregnancy than women who are older than 25 or have some college education. In an effort to address the problem, the health district offers a program partnering nurses with low-income families and first-time pregnant women to educate them on healthy practices and help them set goals. Conley says empowering them to prepare for their new family can “create a sense of hope within these young women, who may have never been able to see a future for themselves, much less their unborn child.”
United States (2010): 44.5
Preschool Immunizations
Percentage of young children with complete immunization records
Spokane County (2012): 40% Washington state (2011): 68.1% United States (2011): 68.5% ...continued on next page
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Health 17 1/22/14 12:59 PM