Bexar County Community Health Assessment

Organization of the 2006 Bexar County Community Health Assessment

Health and ill-health occurs across the lifespan and across the domains of the determinants of health. The 2006 report builds on the experience of the 2002 Bexar County Community Health Assessment. In 2002 the assessment’s community review committee considered the information that was being collected in the context of the current scientific knowledge about health and the factors that influence health outcomes and developed a format for presentation of the information. Also included in this format was the committee’s understanding of how residents of Bexar County valued different aspects of culture and beliefs about health and the community.

Using this knowledge the committee determined that community health information should be present in eight topic areas:

1. The Social Environment
2. Healthy Lifestyles
3. Infant and Child Health
4. Safety and Injury
5. Mental Health
6. Oral Health
7. Heart Health
8. Diabetes Health
9. Cancer Health

Within each topic area, information is presented for a number of behaviors and conditions that impact health. The basic behaviors and conditions that influence health are similar across many health topic areas. For example, the amount of exercise one gets has an influence on healthy lifestyles, heart health and stroke, and diabetes. Nutritional habits have an impact on healthy lifestyles, heart health, diabetes, and cancer. Throughout the report, information is repeated in topic areas to show the inter-connective relationship of health behaviors. The 2006 Bexar County Community Health Assessment focuses more on providing information about the determinants of health within topic areas than was provided in the earlier report.