Biomedical and Behavioral Research Innovations to Ensure Equity in Maternal and Child Health

by: Michael Saunders

The National Institutes of Health, otherwise known as the NIH, is an agency operating within the United States Department of Health and Human Services that's essentially responsible for looking after the nation's biomedical and health-related research studies.

The grants and initiatives of the NIH are all specifically tailored to help achieve its general agency mission which is to "seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce the burdens of illness and disability."

In keeping with this mission, the National Institutes of Health has recently partnered with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to establish the Biomedical and Behavioral Research Innovations to Ensure Equity (BRITE) in Maternal and Child Health Grant Program.

The program initially seeks to increase the diversity of the research who are involved in health equity research studies associated with infant mortality; Sudden Infant Death Syndrome; child, adolescent, and/or adult obesity; uterine fibroids; pediatric and maternal HIV/AIDS prevention; violence prevention; health literacy; and outreach and information dissemination.

In addition, the BRITE program also intends to kickstart maternal and child health equity research studies from institutions which are eligible for the Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) R15 program.

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Biomedical and Behavioral Research Innovations to Ensure Equity in Maternal and Child Health
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About The Author Michael Saunders is an editor of TopGovernmentGrants.com one the the most comprehensive Websites offering information on government grants and federal government programs. He also maintains Websites providing resources on environmental grants and grants for youth programs.

Additional Resources

category - Health Grants

Modeling Social Behavior Grant Program
The National Institutes of Health has collaborated with the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in order to establish the Modeling Social Behavior Grant Program wherein they intend to seek applications for the development and evaluation of innovative theories, as well as computational, mathematical, and engineering approaches that could better our understanding of a human being's social behavior.

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Biodemography of Aging Program
The National Institutes of Health has formed a partnership with the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in an effort to establish the Biodemography of Aging Program wherein they intend to solicit applications with the intent to conduct research studies regarding demographic and life-science approaches that could potentially expand the current understanding of aging, frailty and mortality.

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Small Business Innovation Research Phase IIB Bridge Awards
In line with this mission, the NIH has recently constituted the Small Business Innovation Research Phase IIB Bridge Awards to Accelerate the Development of Cancer Therapeutics, Imaging Technologies, Interventional Devices, Diagnostics, and Prognostics Toward Commercialization Program.

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Basic Research on HIV Persistence Program
In keeping with this mission, the National Institutes of Health has recently constituted the establishment of the Basic Research on HIV Persistence Program in an attempt to increase our understanding of the persistence of HIV-1 infections in patients under highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART).

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