SULLIVAN COUNTY — Sullivan County once again ranks almost dead last in the latest County Health Rankings just released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The 2015 statistics (available at countyhealthrankings.org) place Sullivan at 61 out of 62 counties in New York State, the same spot it held last year.

The local populace's lack of overall health, as measured by the Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, continues to be just one spot ahead of the lowest-ranked county in the state, Bronx.

The healthiest county is one right in between the Bronx and Sullivan: Rockland.

According to the 2015 rankings, issues vexing Sullivan County residents' health include adult obesity, sexually transmitted infections, unemployment and children in poverty - all of which the study says got worse between 2012 and 2013.

On the positive side, the study indicated less premature death and uninsured people in Sullivan.

Though based on a study that encompasses most of the nation rather than a detailed look at Sullivan's communities, the rankings are taken seriously by local officials, who convened a health summit last year to tackle the identified problems.

“When we begin to make more significant progress toward income equality, which is one of the measures used this year by the Rankings Report and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we will start to see more progress toward improved health outcomes for Sullivan County residents,” said Sullivan County Public Health Director Nancy McGraw. “We also need to invest in wellness across all sectors of the community and build a culture of healthy lifestyles as the norm.”

County officials touted initiatives involving improved availability of fresh food, breastfeeding education, access to healthcare and dental providers, and collaboration between agencies, nonprofits and for-profits.

And coming economic development could bode well, too, said Legislature Chairman Scott Samuelson.

“As poverty and joblessness play such significant roles in these health statistic outcomes, I am hopeful that the county's economic future - that now looks much more promising - will lead to more and better jobs, subsequently a much brighter overall outlook for everyone,” he remarked. “This will mark the beginning of a better trend toward a healthier and more prosperous population across the spectrum.”

Due to the availability of data, the report's statistics aren't any more current than 2013, so the efforts begun by county and area health officials last year have yet to be reflected in the data.

“We are moving in the right direction, and we are hopeful,” said McGraw. “However, it takes years of investment in prevention, public health infrastructure, health care services, creating living wage jobs, designing healthy communities and creating more affordable housing to improve population health.”