The purpose of the Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Program is to promote the health of Oregonians through programs that prevent chronic diseases from occurring, detect chronic diseases at the earliest stages when they are most curable, and prevent further complications. By chronic diseases we mean illnesses of long duration like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Behavior and Disease Chronic diseases claimed the lives of over 20,000 Oregonians in 1999.
Many factors contribute to chronic diseases.
Half of all deaths Oregon can be attributed to unhealthy lifestyle or modifiable behaviors like tobacco use, sedentary lifestyle, poor diet, and not getting preventive screenings like mammograms or blood cholesterol tests. By altering lifestyle behaviors, the risk of developing heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes for Oregonians can be reduced. The Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Program addresses risk factors for chronic diseases statewide and reaches priority populations using multi-level interventions to improve the health of Oregonians. Although individuals are responsible for instituting and maintaining the lifestyle changes necessary to reduce risk and improve health, individual behavior is influenced by social environment. What We're Doing The Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Program monitors the occurrence of chronic diseases, deaths, health behaviors, and community conditions that support healthy lifestyles, and collaborates with partners to develop and implement programs to address chronic diseases.