Chronic disease is responsible for about 70 percent of deaths in America each year, the report says, many of them avoided if "stronger action was taken to promote prevention efforts." Half of men and one-third of women will develop cancer at some point. One-fourth of American adults have heart disease. And two-thirds are overweight or obese. Programs that promote healthy lifestyles and educate could dramatically change those numbers, Levi says.

Utah gets no CDC funding for school health programs, for nutrition and physical activity, especially important with a growing number of overweight children, who are more likely to have health problems later, Levi said. There's no CDC funding for school nurses, either. He said CDC has not been given enough money to adequately provide funding to all the states.

"Obesity is a major public health problem," he said. "You would think Congress and the president would do something about that."

He hopes people will read the report and urge their congressmen to beef up public health funding.

Sundwall praised the CDC as the "white knights of public health," monitoring health issues, surveilling disease and helping health officials stay on top of problems. State lawmakers, he added, have also taken health issues seriously, although he was disappointed they didn't fund an epidemiology surveillance system that's been needed. Funding requests for Utah Partnership for Healthy Weight didn't go anywhere, either.

Sundwall said Utah gets money from other sources, as well. And it has "some of the best programs. The Gold Medal Schools Program is the envy of the nation." He also lauds "Action for Healthy Kids to promote wellness through the school system, a stroke and heart disease prevention program and others. Private-sector partnerships provide funding, as well.

The entire report is online at www.healthyamericans.org.

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E-mail: lois@desnews.com