The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) is funding a first-of-its-kind community-led research program to study ways to address the underlying structural factors within communities that affect health, the agency announced on Wednesday.
The research program will address health equity such as access to safe spaces, healthy food, employment opportunities, transportation, and quality health care.
NIH is directly funding research projects led by community organizations. Leaders from the organizations will work in collaboration with their research partners at academic institutions and other organizations in all phases of the research process.
The projects will examine underlying conditions and environments that influence health outcomes by enabling the development, implementation, and assessment of structural interventions.
Each project will also contribute valuable data to a growing body of knowledge about social determinants of health and structural inequities, said NIH.
