PUBLICATIONS

Poole, C., Barker, T. Bradbury, R., Capone, D. Hutson Chatham, A., Handali, S., Rodriguez, E., Qvarnstrom, Y., & Brown, J. (2023). Cross-sectional study of soil-transmitted helminthiases in Black Belt region of Alabama. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 29(12). https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/29/12/23-0751_article

Capone, D., Bakare, T., Barker, T., Hutson Chatham, A., Clark, R., Copperthwaite, L., Flemister, A., Geason, R., Hoos, E., Kim, E., Manoh, A., Pomper, S., Samodal, C., Smith, S., Poole, C., & Brown, L., (2023). Risk factors for enteric pathogen exposure among children in the Black Belt region of Alabama, USA. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 29(12).  https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/29/12/23-0780_article

June 13, 2024, Tavis Williams, UAB SANITATION HEALTH PROGRAM RURAL HEALTH LIAISON AMERICORPS VISTA (Sumter County) was highlighted in the Sumter County Record Journal representing the program through community outreach and engagement at Sumter County Day!

FL*SHING INJUSTICE | Southern Exposure (southernexposurefilms.org)

#SUMTERCOUNTY Tavis Williams, UAB SANITATION HEALTH PROGRAM RURAL HEALTH LIAISON AMERICORPS VISTA (Sumter County) representing the program through community outreach and engagement! Tavis is also collecting and donating cases of water to the city of York who recently had a pipe burst. The city has been without water for several days and the students are unable to go to school.

#WILCOXCOUNTY Our program partners ‘H2Alabama’, a local non-profit with funding from the Well Water Trust offers help to residents to install safe water wells to rural households who are unable to connect to municipal water. Courtesy of: Wilcox Progressive Era Newspaper March 1, 2023

Drinking Water From Private Wells and Risks to Children Pediatrics (2023) 151 (2): e2022060645.

Current On-Site Sewage Regulation

 ARTICLE: Causes of Groundwater Contamination


Grant Funds Improvements at J. Paul Jones Hospital (Wilcox Co.) December 20, 2022

Multi-Million Dollar Water Project Underway in Wilcox Co. December 16, 2022

‘The president directed us to fix this’: White House pledges to solve Alabama’s Black Belt sewage woes Lowndes and Greene counties are among 11 different sites across seven states to benefit first from new Federal Program (CLINK LINK to READ MORE)

In honor of #AmeriCorpsWeek we are highlighting our Vistas serving on the UAB Sanitation Health Program serving in the Black Belt Region. #WeAreAmeriCorps visit our Facebook page to view these highlights: https://facebook.com/uabsanitationhealthprogram

CBS NEWS 60 MINUTES/ LOWNDES CO BEGINNING AT: 15:17 – 28:40 https://www.cbs.com/shows/60_minutes/video/zAYLCEJxhZm_a9J22TyieOFrTAo_a0vi/12-19-2021-the-beast-america-s-dirty-secret-trevor-noah/

Selma Sun Dallas County part of program to identify, address sickness caused by seeping sewage https://www.selmasun.com/news/dallas-county-part-of-program-to-identify-address-sickness-caused-by-seeping-sewage/article_a065d860-4c90-11ec-a5cc-fb2d3ec1a1aa.html

The West Alabama Watchman Dr. Claudette Poole, assistant professor of pediatrics at UAB, told of the complicated research now being conducted at the request of the CDC….”

WSFA 12 NEWS UAB health study in Lowndes County on inadequate sanitation and infections https://www.wsfa.com/video/2021/04/23/uab-health-study-lowndes-county-inadequate-sanitation-infections/ April 23, 2021

EVENTS

The West Central Alabama Community Health Improvement League, Inc. and the UAB Center for the Study of Community Health will host the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the Black Belt Institute Thursday, September 28, 2023, WCACHIL

2023 Southern Exposure Films!

Our team had the great pleasure of being featured this year (see below)

FL*SHING INJUSTICE

Sherry Bradley and Perman Hardy met on an ordinary Friday afternoon. Amid national and international media recognition of the egregious sanitation and health challenges facing counties across the Black Belt, they helped create an extraordinary consortium of community members, academic institutions, nonprofits, and government agencies dedicated to finding practical solutions for wastewater issues throughout the Black Belt in Alabama.

The Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Project, UAB Sanitation Health and Equity program and other members of the Alabama Rural Water and Wastewater Management Consortium, are utilizing historic state and federal infrastructure funding to implement real solutions on the ground, transforming communities through education and bringing justice to areas that have long been overlooked and underserved for these basic needs.

UAB Sanitation Health Program Water Equity Symposium

The UAB Sanitation Health Program in collaboration with the Alabama Rural Water and Wastewater Management Consortium with funding provided by the CDC, Lister Hill Center for Health Policy, and the USDA is excited to announce that we are hosting a Water and Wastewater Equity Symposium at the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center on Thursday, October 19, 2023, 9am – 4pm. The purpose of this conference is to bring together relevant stakeholders, federal, state, and local agencies, health providers, educators, non-profits, county commissioners, and water board members to focus on education and solutions to the water and wastewater equity crisis of the Alabama Black Belt. 

  • Residents in rural Alabama maybe at risk for intestinal parasites due to the environment such as hookworm and round worm.

  • To encourage testing for Soil Transmitted Helminth (STH) infections, UAB Sanitation Health Program has partnered with/ #VISIT Rural Health Medical Program Inc, John Paul Jones Hospital Clinics, and Selma Pediatrics.

  • If you qualify, there is a $50 gift card you can receive from your provider for submitting samples of stool (poop) for testing —— Black Belt Region of Alabama (Wilcox, Perry, Dallas, Marengo, Sumter, and Hale counties.)To diagnose these infections requires testing stool samples and if found can be treated with a safe prescription medicine.

For more information, please contact AmeriCorps Vista Team Member County residents: Kristi Dunning (205) 962-4917 (Wilcox County), Marcy Pettus, (205) 962-5676 (Dallas County), Sally McGee at (205) 725-1659 (Perry County), Tavis Williams (205) 609-8541 (Sumter County.)