![[logo] US EPA](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090514234537im_/http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
EPA Lead Program Grant Fact Sheet
EPA's Targeted Lead Grants
EPA's Targeted Lead Grant Program funds projects in areas with high incidences of children with elevated blood-lead levels in vulnerable populations. In 2007 the Agency awarded more than $5.2 million in grants under this ambitious program. These targeted grants are intended to address immediate needs of the communities in which they are awarded, and will also highlight lead poison prevention strategies that can be used in similar communities across the country.
EPA's lead program is playing a major role in meeting the federal goal of eliminating childhood lead poisoning as a major public health concern by 2010, and the projects supported by these grant funds are an important part of this ongoing effort. According to the Centers for Disease Control in 1978 there were 13.5 million children in the US with elevated blood lead levels. By 2002, that number had dropped to 310,000.
Lexington, KY - Podcast to Deliver Continuing Medical Education for Physicians
EPA has selected the University of Kentucky Research Foundation in Lexington, Kentucky, for a Targeted Lead Grant.
The University will use the grant money to produce podcast educational products to increase the number of health care providers delivering lead poisoning prevention services to children and their parents.
Over 40% of Kentucky's four million people live in rural areas. A significant proportion of
the children at risk live in poverty, in rural older housing. There is a poverty rate exceeding
30% in some mountain counties. Much of this area is difficult to reach and pediatricians and other
clinicians serving these areas cannot easily obtain continuing medical education on lead poisoning
education.
EPA's grant funds will be used to develop a partnership between the Kentucky Department of Health
and the Kentucky Medical Association to:
- address lead exposure risk for children living in older housing, and
- develop and distribute two Podcasts on Lead Education Aimed at Doctors (PLEAD). One podcast will specifically address risk factors from older housing in rural areas and the other will focus on risk factors in urban areas.
The podcasts can be targeted to pediatricians and general practitioners in "high risk" zip codes in Kentuck.
For more information about EPA's Lead Program, visit www.epa.gov/lead or call the National Lead Information Center at 1-800-424-LEAD.