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Report: North Carolina Again Below Average In Child Health

Screenshot courtesy of N.C. Child and the N.C. Institute of Medicine

A new study shows that North Carolina continues to perform below average when it comes to overall child health conditions.

The 2019 report by the nonprofit groups N.C. Child and the N.C Institute of Medicine was released in February.

The state received an “F” grade for housing and economic security for the third consecutive report. According to the Winston-Salem Journal, this reflects a high percentage of children living in low-income homes and neighborhoods.

The study also points to an increase in youth suicides over the past 10 years. Black high school students in 2017 were twice as likely to have attempted suicide in the past year, and much less likely to receive treatment for depression.

The study did show progress in breastfeeding, oral health, HPV vaccinations for teens, and decreasing the number of teen births.

While the state earned top marks for insurance coverage, the report says many more children could be covered with an expansion of the Medicaid program. 

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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