Health disparities grant to help older blacks in rural Alabama

A $3 million, five-year grant will allow the University of Alabama-Birmingham to head a major initiative to reduce health disparities among older blacks in rural areas. UAB will lead a collaboration with Morehouse School of Medicine, Tuskegee University and the University of Alabama which will focus on blacks living in rural areas of the Deep South. The nation's elderly black population is growing at a high rate, and there is a serious health gap between blacks and whites that must be addressed, officials said.