Mission

Encourage Georgians in the West Central Health District to improve the quality of their lives by achieving healthy lifestyles, creating healthful environments, and preventing chronic disease, disability, and premature death.

Vision

Improve the quality of life for all Georgians in the West Central Health District through better health.

Program Description

Chronic diseases—such as asthma, cancer, diabetes and heart disease—cost Georgia approximately 40 billion dollars each year, keep kids out of school, cost Georgia employers, and results in more than 200,000 thousands of years of life lost.

Chronic disease in Georgia is preventable and controllable.  Through better nutrition, increased physical activity, eliminating tobacco use, and providing access to high quality, guidelines-based health, Georgia can improve its overall health outcomes and support better educational outcomes, economic development, and families and communities.

The Chronic Disease Prevention Section of the Georgia Department of Public Health aims to reduce the burden of chronic diseases in Georgia by—

1. Informing Georgia communities about all of the opportunities to create healthy people in healthy places;
2. Protecting Georgians by reducing exposure to risk factors for chronic disease and warning them about those risk factors; and
3. Preventing and controlling chronic diseases across the population and lifespan through tools like self-management education.

Links:

• Georgia Division of Public Health – Chronic Disease Prevention
• Diabetes Prevention and Control Program
• Georgia SHAPE