On June 18, 2013, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) within NIH issued a Funding Opportunities Announcement (FOA) seeking technologies to improve minority health and eliminate health disparities.
The FOA invites small business concerns to submit Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) (Phase I, Phase II, and Fast-Track) grant applications that would develop a product, process, or services for commercialization. The closing date for applications is August 07, 2013
The technologies may be new and innovative or they may arise from existing technologies that have been redesigned based on the needs of one or more health disparity populations.
To be effective, the technology must improve the current quality of care for a health disparity population and help overcome these barriers:
- Physical barriers to include proximity to healthcare facilities
- Knowledge barriers to address health literacy and language issues
- Infrastructure barriers so that rural hospitals and community health centers have the same resources and expertise available at large hospitals
- Economic barriers to address the lack of insurance coverage and/or financial resources that affect populations with health disparities
- Cultural barriers such as religious beliefs and social customs that can deter certain populations from seeking healthcare
NIMHD is seeking mobile health and telehealth/telemedicine technologies and apps for communication, diagnosis, monitoring, evaluation, medical management, tracking, and treatment in underserved community settings, rural, and remote locations.
Also needed are behavioral interventions such as software apps for mobile devices that will change health behaviors, tools that can measure and assess a broad array of environmental exposures, products or services that would address high quality prenatal care, develop survey instruments such as tools, modules, databases, provide disease prevention educational media such as software, informational videos, plus develop curriculum materials for science and health education.
NIMHD intends to commit $900,000 in FY 2014 with three or four awards for the FOA titled “Technologies for Improving Minority Health and Eliminating Health Disparities” (R41/R42). Phase I awards may not exceed $150,000 and Phase II awards may not exceed $1,000,000.
For more information, go to http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-MD-13-009.html.