New in 2018

THIS year’s County HEALTH RANKINGS, WHICH can be viewed at www. COUNTYHEALTHRANKINGS.ORG, added data ON racial and ETHNIC disparities FOR SEVEN Measures: premature death, LOW birth WEIGHT, TEEN births, diabetes MONITORING, MAMMOGRAPHY SCREENING, CHILDREN IN poverty and DRIVING ALONE to work. ON Each Factor, CLARK County’s black population Fared worse than whites.

THE County HEALTH RANKINGS website also Includes a NEW Feature that allows FOR comparison BETWEEN counties across state LINES with SIMILAR SOCIOECONOMIC Factors and population distributions. SUGGESTED “peer counties” FOR CLARK County INCLUDE Salt LAKE County IN Utah and ORANGE County IN CALIFORNIA. spread of sexually transmitted infections, opioid misuse and violence, including gun violence and domestic abuse. He said he wants to see improvement in those areas within five years.

Other areas flagged

The health rankings flag other areas for improvement in Clark County, including mammography screening, high school graduation rates and diabetes monitoring, though the latter two have been improving over time.

Konkle also pointed to childhood poverty as an area where the county should focus. Though its 21 percent rate is in line with state and national numbers overall, racial and ethnic disparities are stark, she said — 11 percent of white children in Clark County are impoverished, compared with 36 percent of black children.

In striving to improve the health of localities, officials should partner with their legislators to draft bills that could mandate changes at the state level, according to presentations from state Sen. Pat Spearman, D-north Las Vegas, who is running for 4th Congressional District, and state epidemiologist Sandi Larson, both of whom presented at the briefing.

Konkle said the report can play a role in pushing that change.

“People have the power to create change in their communities, as long as they have the information and the community spirit to move forward,” she said.

Contact Jessie Bekker at jbekker@ reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563. Follow @jessiebekks on Twitter.