InSITeS to Support the Healthy Black Family Project
The Institute for the Study of Information Technology and Society (InSITeS) at the Heinz School will provide technical support for the Healthy Black Family Project, as part of their sponsored research project with the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health, Center for Minority Health.
Launched in 2004, the Healthy Black Family Project was established to address the disproportionate incidents of Type 2 diabetes and hypertension among Pittsburgh's African American community. According to recent studies, the death rate for diabetes for black males and females is twice the rates of their white counterparts. Furthermore, three times as many black women ages 44-54 and black men ages 35-44 died of heart disease.
The goal of the project is to engage 100 families or up to 10,000 individuals to develop better nutrition, exercise and support networks while targeting risk factors that contribute to hypertension and diabetes. InSITeS will provide support to the project including web site design, policy guidance, public outreach and communication using information technology.
InSITeS generates and supports multidisciplinary programs of teaching, research and public outreach with regard to information technology policy and the social, economic, political, legal and cultural impacts of information technology. In performing this mission, InSITeS aspires to bring together technologists and non-technologists, both locally and globally, to promote a quality of analysis adequate to the challenges and opportunities posed by the ongoing IT revolution.