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IHS Awards Funding for Health Care Self-Governance
Tribes awarded more than one-third of the annual IHS budget for governing and operating their health programs.
IHS has announced that it is funding a new project: the National Native Health Research Training Initiative, a cooperative agreement aimed at building capacity, reducing health disparities, and sharing best practices in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) health research. The funding offers about $225,000 per year for up to 5 years.
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The project is designed to promote tribally driven research through education and training opportunities. The initiative “will help expand the community of American Indian and Alaska Native researchers and enhance the ability of tribes to participate in and initiate research projects that address specific needs in their communities,” said IHS Principal Deputy Director Mary Smith.
The funding opportunity is open to a national membership organization of American Indian and Alaska Native scientists, researchers, and students. The organization selected will further the IHS research program objectives with expanded outreach and education efforts for AI/AN students, faculty, and health professionals by, for example, making it easier for tribes to use research findings to address AI/AN needs or by promoting health research methods to better understand the effects of traditional Indian medicine, indigenous knowledge, and traditional ecological knowledge on AI/AN health.
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IHS says it also expects the award recipient to develop regular conference training for health professionals and tribal leaders about health research methods, findings, and best practices to meet the needs and advance the health and health care of AI/AN people.