The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences a three-year, $2.99 million grant to benefit the Hispanic and Marshallese communities in Northwest Arkansas, the university announced Thursday.
“This grant will fund efforts to drive down chronic disease problems and costs in the region by increasing access to opportunities for chronic disease prevention and risk reduction and increasing access to environments with healthy food options, among other objectives,” Dr. Peter Kohler, vice chancellor for the UAMS Northwest campus and co-principal investigator for the grant, said in a statement. Kohler said the university will receive $999,882 each year for three years through the grant.
“Diabetes is the main target for us,” Kohler said. “Both [Hispanic and Marshallese] communities have a [large percentage] of type 2 diabetes. We’ve found about a 50-percent incidence of type 2 diabetes [in the Marshallese community] and an 8-percent [incidence] in the Hispanic community.”
Kohler said UAMS, its Family Medical Centers in Fayetteville and Springdale, Arkansas Department of Health, Feed Communities, Endeavor Foundation, Northwest Arkansas Council, Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese, Gaps in Services to the Marshallese Task Force, Univision Arkansas and Arkansas League of United Latin American Citizens are working together to lower the incidence of type 2 diabetes in the communities.
The grant is available through the CDC’s Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health initiative.
It supports public health efforts to reduce chronic diseases, promote healthier lifestyles, reduce health disparities and control health-care spending, the news release states. The initiative is financed by the Prevention and Public Health Fund of the Affordable Care Act.