MONONGALIA COUNTY, W.Va (WDTV) – This year’s annual report from the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps (CHR&R) ranked Monongalia County at the top of the list of healthiest counties in the state. Mon County outperformed the state average in close to every category when it came to health. Physician Director, Lee Smith, said these results are due to a great community effort.
“It is multifactorial,” Smith said. “The teachers are engaging in keeping kids in school. It’s because families are a unit and have support for members of the family. It’s because of the clean air and the drinking water. It’s because of public transportation. It’s because all those things that make a community are effective.”
Unfortunately, another statistic the county ranks high in is the rate of sexually transmitted diseases. Mon County has 507 new cases of chlamydia diagnosed per 100,000 people. That’s significantly higher than the state average of 303 cases per 100,000. Although many have tried to push the blame for the results on the students of West Virginia University in Morgantown, Dr. Smith says that is not a fair assumption.
“Specifically in our area, what we have found when we look at the data is many of the people who contract the various sexually transmitted diseases can be frequently in the 24- to 30-year-old group, which is not your typical college student,” Smith said.
To crack down on spreading sexually transmitted infections, the Monongalia County Health Department has distributed flyers informing patients about the harms of unprotected sex and even offer testing. People can come into the health department and receive free tests while remaining anonymous. The mon county health department is encouraging those who are concerned about a possible STI to take advantage of the testing. More information about this can be found here.
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Discovered on: 2023-05-10 22:40:04
Source: Healthiest county in the state has high STI rate
