This March, we are showing support for National Nutrition Month by highlighting Extension projects that conduct research and programming on nutrition-related topics to aid in the prevention and treatment of disease, such as the Diabetes Prevention Toolkit: A template for better health project.

According to the CDC, diabetes affects 1 in 10 Americans and is the seventh leading cause of premature death in the US. In response to this growing
public health crisis, an Extension team, funded by the NTAE, developed a  Diabetes Prevention Toolkit. This online toolkit and dashboard were created by a team of Extension professionals to provide detailed guidance and support for launching a CDC-recognized Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) in local Extension communities.  This toolkit marks one of the first system-wide public health resources available for Extension to adopt and provides the system an opportunity to become an active public health partner.

The team who developed the toolkit includes da Silva, Sogrhra Jarvandi (University of Tennessee), Jennifer Brown (North Carolina State University), Zena Edwards (Washington State University), Carlin Rafie (University of Vermont), and Alison Berg (University of Georgia). The project is supported by a grant from the New Technologies in Agricultural Extension (NTAE) program. The team was assisted in their work by the Extension Foundation.

Those interested in Extension’s growing role in public health and the organization’s increasing use of digital dashboards and technological innovation in outreach and education will find this publication helpful in their work.
Access the publication and toolkit here:
https://connect.extension.org/...ntion-online-toolkit