The NIH Common Fund’s Transformative Research to Address Health Disparities and Advance Health Equity https://commonfund.nih.gov will have funding for $58 million over five years depending on the availability of funds.
Today, racial and ethnic minority populations in the U.S face a disproportionate burden of disease, such as diabetes, heart and respiratory diseases, HIV, and obesity. More recently, the racial and ethnic differences in COVID-19 incidences and deaths illuminated health disparities and inequities that affect minority populations.
NIH’s Common Fund’s awards will focus on one or more NIH-designated populations that experience health disparities in the U.S including the following examples:
- Community-based research collaborations are needed to develop and test financial interventions to address structural racism in neighborhoods predominantly populated by African American residents and examine spiritual healing and stress reduction interventions for youth from racial and ethnic minority communities to prevent chronic disease outcomes
- Telehealth driven or technology-assisted interventions surging in the wake of COVID-19, needs to be integrated into several of the community-based interventions for physical and mental health
- Technology-enhanced approaches needs to be designed to advance cancer health equity among diverse deaf, deaf-blind, and hard-of-hearing populations
- Develop and evaluate a new model of school-based telehealth-driven preventive care to prevent health disparities in underserved rural and socioeconomically disadvantaged children
Additionally, the NIH Common Fund plans to reissue the initiative to expand the research base for health disparities research at minority serving institutions in FY 2022 to support additional projects.