NIH Encourages the Study of Community Interventions to Address COVID-19 Consequences

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued a funding opportunity for research studying current and prospective COVID-19 mitigation efforts and their effectiveness and impact on health disparity populations, as designated by NIH, which face social and health vulnerabilities (learn more by clicking here).

According to NIH, the COVID-19 pandemic will have long-lasting “psychosocial, behavioral, socioeconomic and health impacts, which are exacerbated in populations that experience health disparities and other vulnerable groups.” Because of these significant and disparate impacts, current mitigation strategies must be studied, and new strategies must be developed.

NIH lists several key questions which a potential study should address concerning COVID-19 mitigation:

• To what extent do existing interventions slow the spread of COVID-19 in specific populations and geographic hotspots? 
• To what extent do policies, guidelines, and other interventions facilitate adherence and mitigate the multifaceted impacts of COVID-19 on health in populations that experience health disparities and in other vulnerable groups?
• Can established models of crisis and disaster response and recovery be applied to address the needs of health disparate and other vulnerable populations?

Potential research projects can study the effects and effectiveness of current mitigation strategies, but also novel strategies which are not yet set to be implemented. Mitigation strategies include both those which seek to prevent COVID-19 transmission and those which seek to address the adverse effects COVID-19 has on vulnerable communities.

Upcoming deadlines to apply to NIH for this opportunity are August 28, 2020 and December 1, 2020. Grants budgets are limited to $500,000 per year, for up to a 5-year period.

To learn more about NIH’s funding opportunity announcement “Community Interventions to Address the Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic among Health Disparity and Vulnerable Populations,” click here.