CONNECTING THE COMMUNITY FOR MATERNAL HEALTH CHALLENGE-IMPROVE INITIATIVE

Investigators

Abstract

On average, 700 people die each year of pregnancy-related causes in the United States. The racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in these maternal deaths are stark1. For example, American Indian/Alaska Native and Black women are two to three times as likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause compared to White women2. Identifying core risk factors and improving outcomes for women who are under-represented in biomedical research - including African American/Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and Hispanic/Latina - necessitates engaging these communities in the research process to ensure their needs and expertise are captured. As part of the NIH’s Implementing a Maternal health and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone initiative (IMPROVE initiative), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) is sponsoring this Connecting the Community for Maternal Health Challenge to encourage and reward non-profit community-based or advocacy organizations to develop research capabilities and infrastructure to pursue research projects in the area of maternal health, inclusive of maternal morbidity and mortality3. By incentivizing the development of research capabilities, infrastructure, and experience, this challenge will empower registered 501(c)(3) (non-profit) organizations in the United States (such as advocacy, local community, faith-based, and other similar groups) to acquire skills and abilities in their organizations and more effectively become partners in and contribute to future NIH-funded maternal health research activities in areas that specifically impact their communities. The Connecting the Community for Maternal Health Challenge is offering a total prize purse of $3,038,000 which will be distributed across multiple phases of the competition and awarded to organizations who successfully complete the objectives and requirements of each phase. In addition to cash prizes, participating organizations will receive non-monetary incentives such as training and mentoring in writing research proposals and assistance in building the needed infrastructure required for research activities.