$43 billion. $147 billion. $193 billion.

 

Those are the costs in health care and lost productivity that the U.S. has paid for childhood lead poisoning, obesity and cigarette smoking, respectively, according to the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

 

Public health problems like these are obviously costly, but they are also preventable. That's where public health comes in. Keeping people physically and fiscally healthy are two of the core missions of public health organizations across the world, including the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH). National Public Health Week highlights two places where public health routinely fulfills these missions: schools and communities.

 

One public health problem has increasingly weighed on U.S. communities, particularly in Georgia: childhood obesity. The state has the second highest childhood obesity rate in the nation with 40 percent of kids qualifying as overweight or obese. Children who are overweight are also more likely to be overweight or obese adults, putting them at risk for a host of costly chronic diseases.

 

Georgia's schools are one place where public health is helping fight obesity. In 2009, the Georgia legislature approved the Georgia SHAPE program, Gov. Nathan Deal's initiative to promote fitness and nutrition to school kids across the state. The program helps schools and parents track kids' physical fitness with FitnessGram assessments and awards grants to schools for programs to improve students' fitness or nutrition. The program's website, georgiashape.org, provides easy, healthy recipes as well as a fitness locator to help kids and families find opportunities for physical activity close to their homes. Georgia SHAPE also promotes evidence-based practices that make a difference in reducing obesity, such as breastfeeding and adding physical activity breaks to the school day.

 

Keeping cigarette smoke and tobacco out of schools is another way public health works to keep students and citizens healthy. Smoking and the diseases it causes kill about 10,000 Georgians annually and cost the state $5 billion in direct health costs and lost productivity. To prevent these human and economic costs, DPH works with districts and counties across the state to get school systems to designate their campuses as tobacco-free zones. As of November, 90 of the state's 181 school districts and 20 of its college campuses went tobacco free, protecting more than 1.2 million students and employees from second-hand smoke. DPH also works to get local smoke-free air ordinances passed in communities around the state, protecting even more people from the harmful effects of tobacco use and secondhand smoke.

 

The Georgia Tobacco Quit Line and tobacco cessation programs have also served as a resource for people who want to quit tobacco for good. Together, these programs have served more than 11,000 people in the past two years.

 

Immunizations have been described as one of the most cost-effective measures in protecting health. The CDC estimates that every dollar spent on immunization saves $6.30 in direct medical costs and $18.40 in indirect costs from missed work days, death or disability. One of DPH's core missions is preventing diseases around the state through immunizations. In 2012 alone, public health organizations in Georgia gave nearly 854,000 immunizations. DPH also worked with Georgia's health districts and county health departments to prevent flu from spreading in schools with school-based flu clinics. During the 2012-2013 flu season, these clinics vaccinated nearly 26,000 children by January.