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Winds of Change Newsletter, September 2008 See sidebar for table of contents
Early Deaths in WV Coalfields - The Price We Pay
Thanks to OVEC member Antrim Caskey, who wrote and
distributed this Public Service Announcement in New York City:
In other news, The Reversal of Fortunes is the
title of a new report from Harvard researchers Ezzati, Friedman,
Kulkarni, and Murray. The news for West Virginia is shocking. People in
our state have among the lowest life expectancies in the United States,
and in areas, the number of years we live is actually declining.
In areas of the country where the economy and people are
doing well, life expectancies are slowly increasing. In counties that
are poor, and in which peoples health is already in jeopardy, life
expectancies are going down.
West Virginians for Affordable Health Care (WVAHC)
issued a report on the data for West Virginia, with the title Early
Deaths. Only four WV counties (Pendleton, Grant, Tucker, and
Monongalia) had life expectancies above the national median for (74.1
years for men and 79.6 years for women).
The news for women is particularly grim. In no county in
West Virginia is womens life expectancy above the national median.
Tucker County had the highest life expectancy for women, 79.5 years.
Women in the coalfield counties of Mingo, McDowell, Logan, and Wyoming
had life expectancy in the lowest 1 percent nationwide. If women in
these counties had the same life expectancy as women in Tucker County
they would live an additional decade! In ten counties, life expectancy
for WV women fell more than one year between 1989 and 1999.
OVEC will be working with a group of concerned
organizations convened by WVAHC to investigate causes of these startling
statistics. We will join in pushing for policy measures our state can
pursue to address our citizens health needs.
You can read the full WVAHC report on their web site,
www.wvahc.org.
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