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Our Vision for a Healthier Future

The vision of Forge AHEAD Center is to achieve health equity by eliminating health disparities and improving health outcomes in diabetes, obesity, and hypertension throughout the South. Our vision is accomplished through effective partnerships with academic, non-academic, and community organizations to support research, training, outreach, and education.

Transitioning from Health Disparities to Better Health For All

Forge AHEAD Center is motivated to improve current health issues in our region. Inequalities in cardiometabolic health have long been a concern. Now, in some cases, these inequalities have widened across racial, socio-economic, and geographic lines. In the “Deep South” region of the United States of America (USA) rates of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension are the highest in the nation. Life expectancy in the Deep South is substantially lower than other regions, and this difference is even greater for Black Americans living in the area.

Elimination of these disparities – health equity for all – is our ultimate goal. Reaching health equity will require a precision public health approach, best viewed as “providing the right intervention to the right population at the right time.” This approach acknowledges the importance of context, culture, individual beliefs, and preferences, and emphasizes the needs for intervention on multiple levels addressing several areas of health and wellness.

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