Center for Rural Health and Health Disparities
The Center for Rural Health and Health Disparities is dedicated to implementing community-driven solutions to health disparity issues in rural areas of Georgia.
Our mission is to partner with rural communities to engage in interdisciplinary research, training and community outreach designed to generate novel, community-driven methods for eliminating health disparities.
The Center for Rural Health and Health Disparities is one of only four rural-focused NIH Centers of Excellence in the nation and operates numerous programs focused on eliminating disparities in maternal and infant mortality, opioid overdose and chronic diseases. Our work is supported by the NIH’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, HRSA’s Office of Rural Health Policy and HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau.
Active Projects
- South Georgia Healthy Start (HRSA Grant H49MC32732), which is working to eliminate disparities in maternal and infant mortality in a seven-county region of rural Georgia (Appling, Bulloch, Candler, Emanuel, Jenkins, Tattnall and Toombs)
- North Georgia Opioid Prevention and Education Network (OPEN; HRSA Grant G25RH32936), working to decrease opioid overdose in a four-county region of Appalachian Georgia (Fannin, Gilmer, Gordon and Polk)
- Health Equity Navigators designed to increase knowledge of and access to resources to combat the effects of health disparities in rural and underserved communities in a 12-county region of West Georgia (Upson, Lamar, Pike, Spalding, Meriwether, Troup, Heard, Carroll, Coweta, Fayette, Henry, and Butts).
For more information on the Center and the work they are doing, please contact director, Dr. Michael Kramer at kramer_mr@mercer.edu.
