Ohio is becoming a more deadly place to live, according to data from the state health department analyzed by the Ohio Capital Journal. In 2021, there were the highest number of fatal overdoses, gun deaths, homicides and motor vehicle fatalities in 15 years. It was also the third-worst year on record for suicide deaths in the state.
Numbers also show a 51% increase in deaths of working-age Ohioans.
"The mortality falls into the category of what sociologists call 'deaths of despair' -- often indicators of larger ills around economics, access to health care, economic and geographic mobility, racial inequalities and other complex societal problems," the Capital Journal reported.
"One thing that's particularly troubling is that these causes of death are largely preventable," Amy Bush Stevens, vice president of the Health Policy Institute of Ohio, told the Capital Journal. "There are effective things that we can be doing to reverse these."
Among those solutions are better tools to tackle the substance abuse epidemic; reducing the stigma surrounding mental health challenges; growing and diversify the economy for all regions; and providing quality, relevant public education and higher education opportunities.
These are not easy problems to fix. Ohio's lawmakers have their work cut out for them.