Gaps in health outcomes exist between the general population and groups of people who experience systematic obstacles to health based on their race or ethnicity, socioeconomic status, geographic location, or other characteristics linked to exclusion.

Nowhere are such health gaps more evident than in the South, home to some of America’s poorest communities. These communities lack resources as basic as a clean environment, access to grocery stores, and safe streets. Their residents are exposed to multiple daily stressors and bear the burden of many chronic diseases.

Strategically located in the heart of the region, the UAB Minority Health & Health Disparities Research Center provides a critical connection between investigators and vulnerable populations. Our research and training programs enable young scientists to pursue research on health disparities, while our community outreach program identifies urgent health questions and needs and implements evidence-based strategies to reduce health disparities and promote health equity. The highlight of our work is the millions of underserved minority men, women, and children whose lives are impacted through our efforts.

Milner, A., Baker, E., Sisiopiku, V. (2013). Motivations and barriers to utilizing adult walking buses: An examination of demographic correlates of willingness to participate in a community-based walking program. Open Journal of Preventive Medicine, 3(9,) 517-525.

Walking buses are a way to increase physical activity by encouraging people to walk rather than rely on motorized forms of transportation. Several communities support walking school buses as an alternative mode of pupil transportation to schools. A possible extension of this concept is the introduction of adult walking buses. Given the novelty of the concept, very little is currently known about the public's perceptions regarding adult walking buses and their potential effectiveness to increase physical activity and decrease obesity among adults. To bridge this gap, this study examined motivations and barriers to participation in an adult walking bus program in Birmingham, Alabama using a comprehensive questionnaire survey.

Findings:

• The most significant barrier to willingness to participate in a walking bus program is limited time.
• The significance of demographic variables (obesity, race/ethnicity, and age) as predictors of willingness to participate is reduced once motivations and barriers are controlled.
• The positive response to the program among the sample is encouraging and suggests that adult walking buses should be explored further as an active alternative transportation option with a potential to improve health and well-being.

Visit the REACH Website

The Mid-South Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center for Health Disparities Research (Mid-South TCC) is a consortium of academic institutions working together to reduce the burden of chronic disease experienced by minorities in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky. This region includes many of the country’s most impoverished rural and inner-city communities which carry exceptionally high burdens of obesity, chronic disease and high mortality rates.

The Mid-South TCC addresses all the social determinants that impact a person’s health, such as economic, cultural and environmental, focusing specifically on the pathways leading people to obesity and chronic illnesses. Research is translated into better health for all with evidence-based health interventions and community partnerships to create healthier lifestyles and eliminate long-standing differences in health outcomes.

American Journal of Preventive Medicine (Vol. 52, Iss. 1, Supp. 1, Jan. 2017), “Social Determinants of Health: An Approach to Health Disparities Research.” The issue features 12 papers outlining the work of the Mid-South TCC.

Ethnicity & Disease (Vol. 27, Supp. 1, 2017), “Addressing the Social Determinants of Health through Academic-Community Partnerships.”

The issue features 10 papers outlining the work of the Mid-South TCC and its community partners. We believe that this publication is one of the first to feature community partners as co-authors of scientific research.

Visit the Mid-South TCC Website