This year’s county health ranking finds New Haven is the least healthy county in Connecticut. Tolland ranks at the top.
The study ranks state counties according to a variety of health measures. They include length and quality of life, smoking, obesity, sexually transmitted infections, as well as educational levels and physical environment.
Kate Konkle is outreach specialist for the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute which, together with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, conducted the survey. She says the goal is to bring together different parts of a local community.
New Haven County’s rate of sexually transmitted infections, teen pregnancies and child poverty contributed to its ranking last in the state. 13 percent of adults in New Haven County described their own health as fair or poor. That number dropped to 9 percent in top-ranked Tolland County.
Click here for a detailed breakdown of New Haven County’s public health measures.
Not really an apples-to-apples comparison of metropolitan regions, given that New Haven County includes Waterbury and Meriden, but does not include many of their suburbs. The rankings will change depending on where you draw the lines.
Furthermore, Connecticut has absolutely no county governments, so the idea of "bringing together" people around this research is highly questionable.
County rankings make more sense in say, New York, where they are comparing the health of Kings County (Brooklyn), versus New York County (Manhattan), versus Westchester, etc., all of which have their own governments.
For Connecticut, the study would be much more effective if it developed comparisons based on regions such as metro areas, councils of government, workforce investment areas, or regional health departments.