“On the Road to a Healthier Mississippi”

Jackson, MS- The Coalition for a Healthier Mississippi will hold a news conference on Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 11:30 a.m. on the steps of the State Capitol to announce plans for Mississippi Health Awareness Day 2010.  Members will unveil the agenda that fosters healthy lifestyles and focuses on the need for disease prevention statewide. Mississippi Health Awareness Day is January 21, 2010.  It is a day of free health screenings and other wellness activities, including a 5K Run/Walk that will take place that morning.  “On the Road to a Healthier Mississippi” is this year’s theme.

Dr. Samuel Okoye, founder and CEO of the Community Outreach for Health Awareness, Inc. (COHA), created Mississippi Health Awareness Day in 1999.  In 2006, the State Legislature designated it as the third Thursday in January.  The Jackson Medical Mall Thad Cochran Center and the new State Capitol building are the host sites for activities for Central Mississippi.  Health partners from across the state will hold similar activities in their respective counties. 

The Coalition for a Healthier Mississippi includes: COHA, Jackson Medical Mall Foundation, Mississippi State Department of Health/Office of Preventive Health, Mississippi Chronic Illness Coalition, Mississippi SHINE Project, Mississippi State Department of Education/Office of Coordinated School Health, Mississippi Medical Association (MMA), Delta Citizens Alliance (DCA), Leadership Jackson Class of 2009-2010, and the University of Mississippi Institute for Improvement of Geographic Minority Health and Health Disparities (MIGMH).

For more information on Mississippi Health Awareness Day, contact COHA’s Executive Director Elloris Cooper at (601) 376-2397 or Zakiya Summers at (601) 982-8467, ext. 26.