New Study Shows Increased Public Health Spending Can Save Lives

Investments in Prevention Linked with Decreased Mortality Rates
A new study released online this week by the journal Health Affairs strengthens the hypothesis that if local public health agencies spend more on keeping people healthy, they can save more lives lost to preventable illnesses.

The study, which was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, provides compelling evidence that increased public health investments may contribute to gains in community health outcomes. Mays and Smith found that between 1993 and 2005, public health spending increased among 65 percent of local public health agencies. In communities that increased public health spending by 10 percent, infant mortality rate declined 6.85 percent, heart disease deaths declined 3.22 percent and deaths from diabetes and cancer also declined.
Read the study and learn more about the Foundation’s investment in public health services and systems research.
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