Kansas poor for obesity, teen immunizations and public health funding in national study

Kansas has some of the worst rates of adolescent immunizations and public health funding in the country, according to the 2015 America’s Health Ranking report released Thursday.

But Kansas is in the middle of the rank for overall health at 26 on the list. That’s up one spot from last year’s overall rank.

United Health Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to improve health and health care, releases the report each year.

Hawaii received the number one spot as the overall healthiest state, according to the study. Vermont, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New Hampshire each followed respectively.

The states with the poorest health, starting with the worst, were Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia and Alabama.

Here are some Kansas facts and figures from the report:

The bad news

▪ One in four Kansas adults is physically inactive

▪ One in three Kansas adults is obese

▪ One in 10 Kansas adults has diabetes

▪ Kansas is the seventh worst state in the country for public health funding

▪ Public health funding decreased 14 percent over the past two years: from $51 a person to $44 a person

▪ Kansas is the fifth worst state in the country for adolescent immunizations, which includes HPV shots

▪ Kansas is the 13th fattest state in the country for adults

The good news

▪ Kansas is the eighth best state in the country for child immunizations, up 18 percent over the past two years

▪ The number of children in poverty decreased 18 percent over the past 20 years

▪ Physical inactivity decreased 10 percent over the past year

This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 5:16 PM with the headline "Kansas poor for obesity, teen immunizations and public health funding in national study."