The Area Health Education Center (AHEC) program is a federal initiative developed by Congress in 1972 to recruit, train and retain a health professions workforce committed to the underserved.

Until 2007, Iowa was one of only four states without an AHEC program. In building a new AHEC program, we have an opportunity to benefit from established best practices while responding to the unique challenges of Iowa’s population, including:

1. Health Workforce Shortages. Throughout the state, shortages are documented in primary medical care, dentistry, mental health and other vital service provisions.
2. Barriers in Access to Health Care. The numbers of uninsured and underinsured who have difficulty accessing quality health care has continued to increase.
3. Gains in Diverse Populations. Diversity has increased in counties adjacent to metropolitan areas, as well as those that often provide employment opportunities in agriculture.
4. The Aging of Rural Iowa. Since the farm crisis of the 1980s, population trends in rural communities clearly show they are faced with the challenge of having a higher percentage of elderly residents with fewer family and health resources available.