A key element of an established society is its ability and desire to provide its citizens with the necessary elements to stay healthy. Every state and every community faces its own unique challenges when deciding how to allocate resources to achieve healthiness.
A recent report ranked states according to health by evaluating factors such as smoking, motor vehicle deaths, high school graduation rates, children in poverty, access to prenatal care, disabilities and incidence of preventable disease to a community's health.
The report strives to represent each state's composite health, which is influenced by elements such as individual and family decisions and behaviors that affect health, decisions made by community leaders to promote and protect health, and the overall environment of communities.
United Health Foundation November 2002