The state Department of Health and Senior Services will soon launch an awareness campaign on the most fatal chronic diseases in Missouri.
The Healthy Living campaign will begin Monday, according to a news release from the department. The initiative will mostly be educational, including materials such as a website, social media posts and various digital advertisements, said Lisa Cox, the department's communications director.
"This campaign is really game show-inspired," she said, adding that while chronic diseases are generally not fun, this initiative aims to be "a fun spin" on the topic. The campaign aims to teach its audience the different lifestyle changes that can help prevent these diseases.
Healthy Living will focus on eight health issues, including heart disease, cancers, chronic lower respiratory disease, stroke, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, kidney disease and chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, according to its website.
An interactive element of the campaign -- fashioned as a game show called "The Big Risk" -- will be to ask viewers questions about these diseases in the style of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," Cox said.
The eight targeted diseases collectively caused around 200,000 deaths in Missouri from 2017-21. Across the United States, Missouri had one of the 10 highest rates of fatalities from heart disease, chronic lower respiratory disease and kidney disease respectively, according to the news release.
"That's really what we're focusing on, like what things that people may do in their day-to-day life that can be adjusted to lower their risks of (these chronic diseases)," Cox said.
The website also gives suggestions on healthy habits people can adopt to live longer, such as drinking more water and doing more physical exercise. The site links to other health department web pages on environmental health, food programs and genetic diseases.
Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this campaign is set to last to the end of 2024, Cox added. While the funding is expected to continue for three more years afterward, Cox said campaign messaging and tactics may change in 2025.
The state health department decided to launch this campaign because it felt the need to "get back to the basics" coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cox said, which means taking a broader approach to the health issues Missouri residents have been dealing with.
"We've been spending several years talking about these respiratory illnesses, so we're really wanting to get back to that broader public health look about what is causing a lot of deaths (outside of COVID-19) in Missouri year after year after year," Cox said.
She said she hopes this campaign will spark conversations or provoke new thinking among Missourians, such as realizing it is easy to take small steps toward better health.
"There are lots of different ways to get healthier." Cox said. "Whether it is just making little tweaks to your diet, adding a smoothie here and there to add to your fruit and vegetables intake, or adding different fun ways to get exercise into your day."