Southeast Center for Agricultural Health and Injury Prevention - OUTREACH

The Southeast Center for Agricultural Health and Injury Prevention (SCAHIP) at the University of Kentucky (UK) proposes to continue serving as one of the NIOSH-Centers for Agricultural Disease and Injury Research, Education, and Prevention for 2016-2021. The Center, founded in 1992 on a land-grant campus allows multidisciplinary collaboration from agriculture, public health, epidemiology, biology, engineering, education, forestry, communications, nursing, medicine, and Cooperative Extension from six universities in the Southeast. We propose 6 projects: Youth Behavioral Change: A CROPS Curriculum Experiment (Interventional Research); Avian-livestock Transmission of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria (Surveillance, Basic Research); Reduction of WV Logging Hazards through a Logging Safety Management System (Translational Research); Training Program for Agriculture Safety and Health Professionals across the Southeast (Translational Research); Manual Tree Felling Best Practice as an Indicator of Safety Behavior (Surveillance /Intervention Research); and a Pilot/ Feasibility Program. The Center's theme, "Multidisciplinary. patinerships to improve agricultural safety and health in the Southeast," is distinguished by our emphasis on serving vulnerable farm populations while addressing persistent and emerging agricultural safety concerns. The region served by the Center will continue to be the 10 southeastern states of AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA and WV. The Center expects to have a substantial impact on the following priorities: prevention of injuries from tractor overturns; surveillance and risk evaluation of agriculture-related antibiotic resistant infections, injury surveillance and prevention in the logging/ forestry industry; and widespread multidisciplinary training to increase the number of professionals skilled in addressing health and safety issues faced by agricultural families. Tluough our outreach and emerging issues program we will continue to address Green-tobacco illnesses and the high injury rate among migrant and Hispanic workers. We will also address emerging problems such as heat-related illnesses in the Southeast, and the occupational effects of concentrated fa1ming practices. The Center benefits from a strong institutional supp01i from 8 colleges within UK and collaboration with researchers at Auburn University, East Carolina University, North Carolina State University, North Carolina A&T University, and West Virginia University, and grassroots stakeholders.