Study Finds Setbacks in Women’s Health

The latest health report card for women, issued on Thursday by the National Women’s Law Center and Oregon Health and Science University, paints a dismal picture, giving the United States an overall general grade of Unsatisfactory, with many F’s on specific goals set by the government’s Healthy People 2010 initiative.

While screening rates for colorectal cancer and high cholesterol have improved since the last report card was issued in 2007, and fewer women are smoking and dying of stroke or coronary heart disease, obesity continues to be a growing problem, with 26.4 percent of women considered obese, up from 24 percent in 2007. The objective of Healthy People 2010 is to reduce that rate to 15 percent.