Guthrie County ranks as the 40th healthiest county in the state of Iowa according to the recently released annual County Health Rankings.

The rankings are compiled for every county in all 50 states by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (UWPHI) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).  Such factors that influence the health rankings include smoking, employment, physical inactivity and air pollution.

In reacting to the health ranking, Guthrie County Public Health Administrator Jotham Arber says he sees room for improvement.

“Last year’s statistics that came out had us at 34th, so we dropped six places.  I’m happy with a few improvements if you look at each individual statistic, but overall, I think we have a lot of room to improve.  I think we can make Guthrie County healthier, and I think that is what we’re working towards as a health department.”

When delving deeper into specific health rankings, Arber says he’d really like to see Guthrie County residents improve their eating habits.

“We want to see our community increase the (number) of days that they feel healthy, and a lot of that has to do with changing eating behaviors.  Our adult obesity rate is at 33%, whereas Iowa’s (average) rate is at 29%.  I think that a lot of that has to do with a cultural awareness of healthy eating–I don’t think it exists here as much as it could and I think that is a message we need to get out to the community.”

Another area Arber says he’s like to see improvement is in Guthrie County’s physical activity. According to the County Health Rankings, 29% of the county is physically inactive, whereas the state average is 25%.

For more information about Guthrie County’s health ranking, CLICK HERE.