
A Healthy Change for the DeltaBy Jill Lee January 29, 1999Many want Delta's low-income families to get better food and lead healthier
lives. But good intentions are not enough. That's why the Delta Nutrition
Research Initiative involves poor Delta communities in deciding what their key
nutrition problems are, and empowers them to find solutions with help from
nutrition scientists. Delta NIRI serves 36 counties or parishes in Louisiana, Mississippi and
Arkansas. It's members include seven nutritional research centers, including
Alcorn State University, Lorman, Miss.;
Southern University and A&M College,
Baton Rouge, La.; University of Arkansas at
Pine Bluff; Arkansas Children's Hospital
Research Institute; University of Southern
Mississippi at Hattiesburg and Pennington
Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge. Delta NIRI, which began in 1995,
has an operating budge of $3.1 million for 1999. So how does this Consortium work? Delta NIRI hires and trains Delta
residents to survey area counties about health and nutrition problems. Then
scientists in the Delta NIRI program design and test nutrition interventions
based on these concerns. Ultimately, the community decides if the programs are
worthwhile and should continue. The communities benefit because top-level nutritional researchers are
working to improve the health of residents. The scientists benefit because
their research projects are based on real-life problem solving. Why this special initiative for the Delta? Compared to national statistics,
Delta families are more likely to lack pre-natal care, have low-birth weight
deliveries and high infant mortality. Nutrition related chronic diseases such
as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes are also above national
average. You can read more about Delta NIRI in this month's "Agricultural Research"
magazine. It also features more information about the Delta communities who will be
partners in this project. The article is also available on the World Wide Web
at: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jan99/diets0199.htm Scientific contact: Margaret L. Bogle, ARS
Delta Nutrition Intervention
Research Initiative, Little Rock, Ark., phone (501) 954-9152,
[email protected]. U.S. Department of Agriculture | |