Innovations for Healthy Living—Improving Minority Health and Eliminating Health Disparities (R43/R44 Clinical Trial Optional)

Program Description

NIMHD invites eligible U.S. small business concerns to submit Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant applications that propose to develop a product, process, or service for commercialization, with the aim of improving minority health and/or reducing health disparities.

Despite notable improvements made as a result of medical and scientific advances, there continues to be an alarming and disproportionate burden of illness among certain populations. To meet this challenge, NIMHD is committed to supporting research for the development of innovative diagnostics, treatments, and prevention strategies that improve the health of racial and ethnic minority populations or reduce—and eventually eliminate—health disparities. Appropriate technologies should be effective, affordable, and culturally acceptable.

Technologies may be new or may arise from existing technologies that have been redesigned based on the needs of populations experiencing health disparities. To be effective, a technology must provide an improvement over current quality of care by overcoming a physical, knowledge, infrastructure, economic, or cultural barrier.

Technologies to address the unique health burdens experienced by populations experiencing health disparities in urban and underserved rural areas are of particular interest, including technologies that support healthy eating and active living, improve access to and use of important governmental services, improve quality of life, reduce food insecurity, and decrease childhood obesity rates.

Technologies might include tools or approaches that facilitate care coordination in medically underserved communities; promote opportunities for individuals and communities to engage in health-seeking behaviors and avoid risky behaviors; detect, measure, and assess unhealthy social and environmental exposures; and expand opportunities to access and use high-quality prenatal care. NIMHD invites proposals for culturally appropriate survey instruments, educational media, mobile health technologies, big data science technologies, and technologies for rapid identification of relevant genetic information, among others.

NIH Guide No.: RFA-MD-18-009

Page updated Jan. 12, 2024