Ohio

About the program

The State of Ohio received $665,000 through cooperative agreement EH21-2102 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the third funding year. The funds address childhood lead poisoning prevention and surveillance programmatic activities being conducted from September 30, 2023, to September 29, 2024.

The strategies focus on:

• Ensuring blood lead testing and reporting
• Enhancing blood lead surveillance
• Improving linkages to recommended services

To learn more about these efforts in Ohio, contact the program below.

Ohio Department of Health

Bureau of Environmental Health and Radiation Protection

Healthy Homes and Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program

246 N High St.

Columbus, OH 43215

Phone: 877-532-3723

Success story: funding year 2

Ohio launches statewide marketing campaign to raise awareness about lead hazards

Challenge

Many Ohioans do not understand the dangers of lead or what possible lead hazards are in their own home. This was determined through conversations with the public and parents. In 2021, a total of 2,955 Ohio children younger than 6 years of age had blood lead levels ≥5 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dL). Therefore, a media campaign was created to educate the public and parents about the dangers of lead hazards.

Intervention

In July 2022, the Ohio Department of Health successfully developed and deployed the statewide Lead Awareness Campaign to raise awareness about childhood lead poisoning and the resources available to help families remove and reduce lead hazards. The campaign communicated directly to audiences that were at high risk (according to their zip codes) via digital, social, transit, and billboard messaging about the health effects, sources, and ways to prevent lead exposure. The campaign also included a call to action that directed Ohioans on next steps and provided additional resources. The campaign ran from July 20 through October 31, 2022.

Impact

The awareness campaign successfully reached thousands of Ohio residents and connected them to important information about lead exposure and its hazards for young children. A total of 55,181 television commercials were aired during the duration of the awareness campaign, generating over 46,000,000 total television impressions. The social media messages generated over 35,000 visits to the Ohio Department of Health lead web page. In total, 88,733,843 impressions were made across social media, television, and digital platforms. Transit and billboard messaging added an additional 54,000,000 impressions. Social media impressions are the number of times the content has been displayed.

Note: On July 1, 2023, Ohio law went into effect for the action level to match CDC's blood lead reference value, 3.5 µg/dL.

Funding for this work was made possible in part by NUE2EH001466 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The views expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the CDC; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Success story: funding year 1

Making data available to partners in Ohio

Challenge

Ohio has a significant number of cases of childhood lead poisoning, but the greatest burden of childhood lead poisoning is confined to specific geographic areas. The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) requires blood lead testing for children 1 and 2 years of age, or up to age 6 if no previous test has been completed, based on the following criteria: the child is enrolled in Medicaid, lives in a high-risk zip code, or has certain other risk factors. However, data about properties with known lead hazards and children's blood lead levels (BLLs) were not readily available to the public.

Intervention

If an elevated BLL is detected, ODH can issue lead hazard control orders at rental and owner-occupied properties where lead exposure occurred. If a property owner fails to comply with a lead hazard control order, then ODH can issue a notice of non-compliance and order the property owner to vacate the residence.

The Ohio Public Health Warehouse provides blood lead testing and housing data to the public and its partners, such as local health departments, to prevent lead poisoning, direct funding, target areas of greatest need, and avoid housing with lead hazards. The Ohio Public Health Warehouse is an online self-service online tool where anyone can obtain the most recent public health data available about Ohio. It connects daily to Ohio's Healthy Homes and Lead Poisoning Surveillance System to supply two types of data:

• The lead data module contains data related to blood lead testing for Ohio children from 2016 to the present. The purpose of this module is to make childhood blood lead level data reported to ODH more accessible to public health professionals and the public.
• The Ohio Lead Hazardous Properties dataset contains a searchable list of properties in Ohio whose owners have refused to comply with an order from the ODH or its delegated local board of health to correct known lead hazards.

Impact

Lead data went live on the Ohio Public Health Warehouse in 2018, allowing the public to access real time BLL and housing data. Additional access can be granted for more detailed data, with approval. The Ohio Public Health Warehouse aids in identifying neighborhoods and populations of children disproportionately affected by high BLLs and educating parents and clinical providers in target areas.

Funding for this work was made possible in part by NUE2EH001386 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The views expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.