The University of Iowa Prevention Research Center for Rural Health (PRC-RH) has been awarded $893,289 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to improve the health of rural communities in Iowa. The award is for the first year of a five-year funding period.

The center, based in the UI College of Public Health, is one of 26 Prevention Research Centers nationwide to receive CDC funding to study how people and their communities can avoid or counter the risks for chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, obesity, and cancer. The funds will support the development and evaluation of practical public health prevention interventions.

The PRC-RH uses evidence-based, community-based participatory research. One of its specific aims is to implement and evaluate an intervention research project focused on increasing physical activity among adults in the micropolitan community (< 50,000 residents) of Ottumwa in southeast Iowa.

Researchers with the PRC-RH note that reducing obesity in rural residents is especially important since they are more likely to be obese than urban residents. Additionally, there are few effective interventions to increase physical activity in rural micropolitan communities, since most evidence-based interventions have been tested in urban or suburban areas.