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News Date: Monday, November 25, 2024 - 13:30
The NIH is seeking input into the NIH-wide Minority Health and Health Disparities Strategic Plan (2026-2030). The Plan will guide the NIH in” setting scientific goals, such as deepening the understanding of health disparities, enhancing research activities, strengthening research capacity, and developing the scientific workforce.” It will highlight key issues and propose strategies “to improve health and reduce disparities by targeting intrinsic, extrinsic, and idiopathic causes, identifying optimal treatments, and focusing on prevention.
The National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities is leading the collaboration with the NIH Institutes and Centers and the NIH Office of the Director, and in consultation with the National Advisory Council on Minority Health and Health Disparities to produce the agency-wide plan.
APA plans to provide input. Accordingly, we invite your comments and input to inform the association’s response. Please share any comments you have with Angela Sharpe <asharpe@apa.org> with the subject “Comments for APA response to the NIH strategic plan on minority health and health disparities,” by Monday, December 16, 2024. You can also submit comments directly to NIH electronically [https://nimhd.nih.gov/about/strategic-plan/rfi.html].
Specifically, the agency is seeking comments on the following topics:
1. Proposed Goals (below):
· The comprehensiveness of the goals to address key areas of minority health and health disparities
· Suggested priorities, considering the major causes of disease and death in the U.S., populations experiencing a disproportionate burden due to preventable or avoidable contributors, and limited resources
Goals
1. Promote research to understand and to improve the health of racial and/or ethnic minority populations.
2. Advance scientific understanding of the causes of health disparities.
3. Develop and test interventions to reduce health disparities and improve racial and/or ethnic minority health.
4. Ensure inclusion of NIH-designated populations experiencing health disparities in NIH-funded research.
5. Develop and improve scientific methods, metrics, measures, analytic tools, and technologies that support health disparities research and improve racial and/or ethnic minority health.
6. Support training to enhance diversity and promote career advancement of minority health and health disparities investigators.
7. Strengthen national capacity to conduct racial and/or ethnic minority health and health disparities research.
8. Expand interdisciplinary capacity among community partners to advance racial and/or ethnic minority health and health disparities science.
9. Promote evidence-based community engagement, dissemination, and implementation of research best practices.
2. Research Strategies and Scientific Areas:
· Research areas that have strong potential to yield short-term positive impacts on minority health and health disparities
· Challenging but necessary scientific areas that should be included to foster long-term advancements
· Key research questions and intervention areas to address over the next five years
· Outreach strategies to accelerate the translation of scientific knowledge and best practices into practice
· Approaches and strategies to train and empower communities to participate in all areas of NIH research, including technology development and artificial intelligence
· Priority methods, metrics, technologies, tools for development or refinement
3. Next Generation of Health Disparities Research:
· How can this plan move the field forward
· Benefits or challenges to highlight in strategic plan development and advancing the science
· Strategies that could be used to capture emerging needs
4. Relevant Topics
· Please share any additional topics NIH should consider in developing this strategic plan.
Your input is valued! We are grateful for your assistance and the benefit of your expertise.
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