HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Marshall University has received $257,000 for its diabetes outreach program.

Sens. Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin and Congressman Rick Rahall announced the Appalachian Regional Commission grant to the university's Diabetes Control and Translation Project on Tuesday. The project provides diabetes education, prevention and monitoring.

The commission and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have committed nearly $2.6 million to the project since 2002.

Rockefeller says diabetes is a national epidemic and that it's a particularly serious problem in West Virginia, affecting more than one in 10 adults in the state.