This Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) highlights the urgent need to understand the social, ethical, and behavioral implications (SEBI) of COVID-19 testing among underserved and/or vulnerable populations across the United States through the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics for Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) initiative. The overarching goal is to understand factors that have led to disproportionate burden of the pandemic on these underserved populations so that interventions can be implemented to decrease these disparities. The funding for this supplement is provided from the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, 2020.
The Office of the Director is therefore offering Emergency Competitive Revisions to active eligible grants and cooperative agreements addressing the objectives described below. This NOSI is one of four related RADx-UP opportunities. The purpose of this SEBI NOSI is to identify, analyze, and address the social, ethical, and behavioral factors likely to influence access and uptake of COVID-19 testing in underserved and/or vulnerable populations. Single or mixed methods approaches involving community partners will inform the development and evaluation of such testing programs. These studies will assess the ethical, historical, healthcare, social and contextual factors surrounding COVID-19 testing, as well as how cultural beliefs and attitudes, perceived expectations, and preferences influence the ability and willingness to get tested and participate in follow-up evaluations. Findings will be used to develop interventions to mitigate barriers to access and increase uptake of testing. Studies focused on unintended consequences of COVID-19 testing in these groups are also of interest when related to social and ethical issues.
The related program initiatives include:
- NOT-OD-20-121which encourages community-engaged Testing Research Projects to supplement large scale networks, consortia, or centers, will examine SARS-CoV-2 infection patterns and efforts to increase access and effectiveness of diagnostic methods.
- NOT-OD-20-120 with a similar focus, but shifts the pool of eligible grants for supplementation to individual research awards that include community collaboration or partnership, generally targeting specific populations.
- RFA-OD-20-013 which is a U24 Coordination and Data Collection Center (CDCC) as a key component of the consortium
Collectively, projects funded under these three NOSIs will serve as one consortium of interlinked community-engaged research projects across the United States to understand COVID-19 health disparities, and to deploy implementation strategies to improve the reach, acceptance, uptake, and sustainability of COVID-19 testing.
NIH expects that all supplements funded under this NOSI and the related NOSIs will actively coordinate and share data (where allowed) with other grantees, the CDCC, and other research supported by the RADx-UP program.
Research that specifically develops or implements novel COVID-19 testing programs for the UP populations as defined below under Key Definitions should be submitted under either NOT-OD-20-120 or NOT-OD-20-120instead of this NOSI. Applicants to this SEBI NOSI are allowed, but not required, to apply to the other RADx-UP opportunities. Researchers applying to this NOSI are strongly encouraged to read all four of these interrelated funding opportunities.
Researchers applying to this NOSI are strongly encouraged to read all four of these interrelated funding opportunities.