The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), in partnership with the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), has announced a NIDA funding opportunity for one-year, services planning research grants to address a dramatic increase in adverse outcomes associated with increased opioid injection drug use in Appalachia. The grants will help develop an epidemiologic understanding of opioid injection drug use, HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection risk, and other adverse health consequences of drug use in any of the 420 Appalachian counties (http://www.arc.gov/counties).
This research should provide the foundation for future intervention programs and larger scale research efforts to enable improved, research-driven interventions that can address these critical public health threats in the rural Appalachian context. Findings should help enable access to screening and treatment and improve access to well-integrated clinical, public health, and social services which address these conditions in rural and economically distressed settings.
Challenging health trends in these communities include: broad geographic health disparities; the region’s traditional reliance on natural resource extraction and other industry sectors which require extensive physical labor; high rates of injury and disability requiring pain management; historically high rates of prescription opioid drug use; barriers to the delivery of primary care and mental health services; and other cultural and socio-economic conditions which influence health behaviors.
Applicants for research funding are encouraged to identify a discrete target area consisting of one or more Appalachian counties, and to engage community-based stakeholders’ cooperation in the provision of information, feedback and data necessary for the successful implementation of the research.
Grants will be administered by NIDA. Applications are due by April 28, 2016, by 5:00 pm local time of applicant organization. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-DA-16-015.html#_Section_I._Funding.
For more information, contact the NIDA press office at media@nida.nih.gov or 301-443-6245.