August 03 2007
Little Rock --The Arkansas Department of Health has received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to coordinate activities to reduce the occurrence and deaths from stroke in five southern states. This CDC grant will initially be for $187,000 and will be funded for at least three years. The Department was selected by the five member states to lead the Delta States Stroke Consortium. This funding, which is a supplement to the CDC Heart Disease and Stroke Grant, will be managed through the Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Section of the Chronic Disease Branch, according to Dr. Namvar Zohoori, Branch Chief.
A consortium of Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama will develop strategies to address stroke prevention and treatment on a regional basis. This Consortium will assess both the problem of stroke in the region, as well as strengths and needs within the health care system in dealing with prevention and treatment of stroke. From these initial efforts the consortium will develop a Regional Stroke Action Plan to deal with the identified problems.
Arkansas leads the nation in the rate of deaths due to stroke. The other four states and Arkansas are all part of what is commonly called the “stroke belt”. All of these states are in the top 11 states for the rate of death due to stroke and in each state strokes are the 3rd leading cause of death. Apart from lifestyle factors, such as obesity and physical inactivity, other contributing factors for increased risk of death from stroke death include a large rural population with inadequate availability and access to appropriate medical care, poverty and health disparities among minority populations.
For further information, interested parties should visit
http://www.arkansashearthealth.com/index.html , or contact Lewis Leslie at (501)661-2831, or write to Arkansas Department of Health, 4815 W. Markham, Slot H-6, and Little Rock Arkansas, 72205.
### |
