The Iowa Healthiest State Initiative has released its 2025 annual report highlighting the organization’s successes in addressing Iowa’s core determinants of health. Highlights from the annual report include:

• 24,628 Iowans used the Double Up Food Bucks program, which matches food assistance dollars 1:1 on purchases of fresh fruits and vegetables. The program created $866,251 in economic impact across the state. (Sen. Dan Dawson, R-Council Bluffs, has introduced SF 2027, a bill that would appropriate $1 million to the Double Up Food Bucks program.)
• 42,000 students and children in Iowa were taught healthy habits tied to diet and physical activity through the 5-2-1-0 Healthy Choices Count! program.
• 119,000 employees were reached by Make It OK, a mental health stigma campaign to normalize conversations about mental illness.
• 100 patients and families were “prescribed” fresh fruits and vegetables through the Iowa Produce Prescription Program. Eighty percent of participants noted a large change in fruit and vegetable intake.

“When cancer and obesity rates are front of mind for many Iowans, rethinking how we approach health has never been more important,” Jami Haberl, Iowa Healthiest State Initiative executive director said in a prepared statement. “Real prevention happens when our communities, schools, workplaces and local policies make the healthy choice the easy choice. The progress we saw in 2025 shows what’s possible when we focus on the conditions that shape health in the first place.”