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

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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Scale-Up of Care and Support Services for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Nigeria
The USAID office in Nigeria has recently established a program called Scale-Up of Care and Support Services for Orphans and Vulnerable Children wherein it intends to improve the health and well-being of orphans and vulnerable children in Nigeria by way of developing a sustainable, comprehensive and coordinated program that will potentially help these kids live a normal, and healthy life.

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Funding Opportunity Announcement: Developing Sustainable Healthy Behaviors in Children and Adolescents
The FOA is designed to encourage the use of Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Awards in employing innovative research studies that would help in determining mechanisms that could promote and influence positive sustainable health behaviors in children and in adolescents, from birth to 18 years old.

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Health Care Innovation Challenge
The Centers for Medicare and & Medicaid Services has recently established the Health Care Innovation Challenge in an attempt to solicit proposals to establish interesting new models of service delivery that can potentially deliver the three-part aim of better health, better health care, and finally, lower costs through the improved quality of Medicare, Medicaid, and Children's Health Insurance Program.

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