Sponsors
Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Office of the Director (OD)
Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH)

Deadlines
October 1, 2006, February 1, 2007, June 1, 2007

Deadline Note
This program announcement expires August 2007.

Amount Note
Exploratory/developmental grants (R21) are limited to two years of support with a combined budget for direct costs of up to $275,000 for the two-year period. The award amount for the R01 is unspecified.

Eligibility
Applications may be submitted by domestic or foreign, for-profit or nonprofit organizations and public or private institutions, such as universities, colleges, hospitals, and laboratories; units of state and local governments; eligible agencies of the federal government; and faith-based or community-based organizations.

Requirements
Small Business, Ph.D./M.D./Other Professional, Commercial, Government, Nonprofit, Academic Institution

Abstract
The purpose of this initiative is to stimulate research aimed at reducing health disparities among racial/ethnic minority and underserved women. More specifically, this initiative seeks applications for research related to health promotion or risk reduction among minority and underserved women age 21 and older; and intervention studies that show promise for improving the health profile of minority and underserved women. Investigators responding to this announcement should focus on enhancing the body of knowledge of a variety of factors (e.g., social, economic, demographic, community, societal, personal, cultural) influencing the health promoting and health compromising behaviors of racial and ethnic minority women and underserved women and their subpopulations. The focus of this program announcement (PA) is on women age 21 and older, but investigators may also focus on the childhood antecedents of adult health disparities.

Each of the sponsors of this initiative has a strategic plan, which addresses health disparities and minority health. This can be found on each of the respective websites. For purposes of this initiative, the definitions of health disparities and minority populations are those outlined in the National Institutes of Nursing Research's (NINR's) Strategic Plan on Reducing Health Disparities. Health disparities are defined as differences in the incidence, prevalence, mortality, and burden of diseases and other adverse health conditions that exist among specific population groups in the United States when compared to non-Hispanic whites. Specific population groups are identified as African Americans, Asian and Asian Pacific Islanders, Hispanic and Latino, Native American, and Native Alaskan. Medically underserved populations are defined as populations that have inadequate access to, or reduced utilization of high-quality health care. Included are low literacy, rural and low-income populations, including older minority women, geographically isolated women, lesbians, hearing and visually impaired women, physically or mentally disabled women, migrant workers, immigrant and refugee women, and language minority women. (Language minority individuals are those who do not speak the most common language or languages in a country or region, which in the United States means individuals who do not speak English.

This PA will use the National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 and R21 award mechanisms.

URL for more information
http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-04-153.html