Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell  announced $605,011 in grant awards to Wyoming to support programs aimed at preventing chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

Funded in part by the Affordable Care Act, the awards are designed to strengthen state and local programs aimed at fighting these chronic diseases, which are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States, and help lower our nation’s health care costs.

This award will help Wyoming implement statewide approaches to promote health and prevent chronic diseases and their risk factors, with a special focus on populations hardest hit by chronic diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will administer the grant.

The goals of the grant funding nationally are: Reduce rates of death and disability due to tobacco use; Reduce obesity prevalence; and  Reduce rates of death and disability due to diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

Nationally, chronic diseases are responsible for 7 of 10 deaths among Americans each year, and they account for more than 80 percent of the $2.7 trillion our nation spends annually on medical care.

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