UAMS Awarded $3M to Address Chronic Disease in NWA Minority Groups

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have given a $3 million grant to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to help address chronic disease problems in Northwest Arkansas’ Hispanic and Marshallese populations. 

Northwest Arkansas’ Marshallese and Hispanic communities are the largest in the state, and they are rapidly growing, Peter Kohler, UAMS Northwest vice chancellor, said in a press release.

“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,” Kohler said.

Kohler said chronic disease puts a growing strain on the local economy, citing projections from the Milken Institute that chronic disease cost Arkansas about $25 billion last year, figuring in the cost of treatment and loss of productivity.

That figure will rise to $42 billion annually within a decade, he added.

The CDC grant will contribute to the school’s research community-based participatory program to address health disparities, including high incidences of chronic disease, in underserved populations.

“We engage the community in research and community health projects that address topics that are important to the underserved,” said Pearl McElfish, research director, said in the press release.  

The grant project will be run by a coalition that includes UAMS and its Family Medical Centers in Fayetteville and Springdale; the 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 the Arkansas League of United Latin American Citizens.