Navajo Lake is a 3800 feet long and 400 feet deep reservoir located in northeastern San Juan County, created from a dam completed in 1962.
The eggs and hoodoos in the Bisti Wilderness were formed in sand and silt revealed 73 million years ago when the Western Interior Seaway receded.
The Aztec Ruins National Monument, on 318 acres, consists of dwellings and sacred structures built by Ancient Pueblo Indians in the 12th and 13th Centuries.
Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness (Bisti Badlands) is a 45,000-acre wilderness area full of rock formations made of sandstone, shale, mudstone, and silt.
Angel Peak Scenic Area is located 15 miles south of Bloomfield in San Juan County, with over 10,000 acres of rugged terrain, badlands and deep canyons.
Shiprock (Tsé Bitʼaʼí, "rock with wings") is a 27 million year old volcanic rock formation, designated as a National Natural Landmark, rising 1,583 feet above the desert.
The La Plata Mountains, seen from San Juan County, are a small subrange of the San Juan Mountains in sw Colorado, and includes Hesperus Mountain at 13,332 feet.
The San Juan River is a 383 mile long major tributary of the Colorado River and a primary drainage for the Four Corners.

Child Maternal Health

Health & Wellness

Birth Outcomes

Low birth weight (LBW) is a leading indicator of child health, and refers to the percent of live births in which the infant’s weight is less than 2,500 grams. LBW can indicate maternal exposure to health risks, access to health care, the social and economic environment, and environmental risks. In terms of the infant’s health outcomes, LBW is a predictor of the child’s health over the course of life.

In 2021, 8.7% of babies born in San Juan County experienced low birth weight, considered to be a poor health outcome for infants. San Juan has historically ben statistically better on this outcome, but numbers were more similar in 2021.

Another child-maternal health indicator, the infant mortality rate of 6.7 infant deaths per 1,000 births in San Juan County is slightly above rates across New Mexico (5.3) and the U.S. (5.4).
Low Birth Weight
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Infant Mortality Rate per 1000 Births

Trends & Race-Ethnicity

The percent of low birth weight babies in San Juan County has generally been consistently below New Mexico and U.S. rates, but there was an increase from 2020 to 2021.

Prenatal Care

Prenatal care is a health factor that plays a central role in infant and child health. Doctors recommend that women see their health care provider before the 13th week of pregnancy and to go back for at least 13 visits before birth. San Juan County and New Mexico have been consistently below the U.S. for this indicator.

In San Juan County, in 2021, just over two-thirds (68.6%) of pregnant women receive the recommended first trimester prenatal care, compared to 66% across New Mexico and 78% across the U.S. 

Native American women are less likely to receive prenatal care than White women in San Juan County, and rates for Hispanic women fall between these rates. Rates have improved recently among all race/ethnicities.

Teen Birth Rate

Teen birth rate is a leading social indicator of maternal and child health. Teen pregnancies are more likely to result in health problems for both mother and baby, and parenting challenges can create social and economic hardship. 

Of the 1,282 births in San Juan County in 2021, 106 or 7.3% were to teen mothers (age 15-19).

There has been a substantial decline in teen pregnancy, although San Juan County’s rate continues to be above the U.S. rate.

County and State Birth Outcomes, New Mexico Indicator-Based Information System (NM-IBIS):https://ibis.doh.nm.gov/

National Data: https://www.americashealthrankings.org
Additional data related to pregnancy and prenatal care are available from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data in NM-IBIS: 

PRAMS is a surveillance system supported through a cooperative agreement with the New Mexico Department of Health Maternal Child Health Epidemiology Program and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
https://ibis.health.state.nm.us/query/selection/prams/_PRAMSSelection.html
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