Carolyn Willis

Delta Health Alliance was founded in 2001 to support community-based healthcare initiatives that would target critical health and wellness in the Mississippi Delta. DHA functions by coordinating the delivery of healthcare programs communities can access, providing targeted education and training to facilitate consistency across providers, and facilitating translational research to replicate evidence-based healthcare programs that work. In order to create successful communities across the Delta, DHA works closely with its partner organizations to increase adult literacy, enforce early childhood interventions, provide appropriate healthcare, and enhance workforce development. Here are a few of the challenges DHA has been helping Delta residents address. Obesity rates are higher than a third of the nation’s population. Many chronic conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, are 50 percent above national average. More infants in the Delta die before they are one year old than anywhere else in the United States (as a percentage of total population). The number of health care providers serving the Delta has been shrinking while the cost of medical care and prescription drugs has been rising. Responding to these challenges requires new approaches, different approaches. To find out how DHA is tackling these challenges please visit our site!