The Onondaga County Health Department's top concerns to tackle by 2024 are women and children’s health, and substance abuse, according to a county assessment released Friday. 

The 2022-2024 Community Health Assessment and Improvement Plan reviewed the county’s current health conditions and created goals and priorities to reach by the end of 2024.

In terms of the overall health in the county, the 146-page assessment says 8.9% of adults reported 14 or more days of poor physical health in the last month, that’s a decrease from 11% in 2016. While 13.6% of adults reported 14 or more days of poor mental health in the last month.

To improve the county’s health, the survey identified its first priority as promoting healthy women, infants and children by, among other actions, aiming to increase lead poison testing of city of Syracuse kids by 10% and reducing racial disparities within maternal mortality rates.

The county also says it wants to decrease obesity among children, specifically those 2-4 years old who are enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

The department says physical health is just as important as mental health, making its second priority to promote well-being and preventing mental and substance use disorders.

“In Onondaga County, 23.3% of adults report binge drinking which is higher than the rate for Central New York,” the health department said in its assessment.

That percentage has increased by 3.5 points since 2016.

By the end of 2024, the county says it hopes to reduce adult binge drinking – five drinks or more for men during one occasion and four or more drinks for women during one occasion – by more than 10% mainly through intervention and screening at hospitals.

The assessment said the county also hopes to shrink drug abuse involving any opioid from 23.6 per 100,000 people to 20.

The assessment collected data from the health department, local hospitals and direct feedback from over 3,600 county residents.

“The Community Health Assessment and Improvement Plan helps us understand the health needs and assets of our community and is an important guide for numerous agencies dedicated to promoting health equity and addressing disparities in health access and outcomes,” Onondaga County Health Commissioner Dr. Kathryn Anderson, said in the statement.