The National Institutes of Health, also known as NIH, is a federal government agency operating under the United States Department of Health and Human Services that is essentially accountable for financially supporting the country’s biomedical and health-related research studies.
The programs of the NIH are all directed at the awareness of its main agency mission which is to”seek elemental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and scale back the burdens of illness and disability.”
In according with this mission, the National Institutes of Health has partnered with the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to establish the Environmental Exposures and Health: Exploration of Non-Traditional Settings Program.
The programme concentrates on promoting interdisciplinary research studies that at directed at promoting health, limiting symptoms and disease, and reducing health disparities in children and older adults who are residing or spending a significant amount of time in non-traditional settings.
In the frame of reference of this programme, non-traditional setting refers to places which are exposed to environmental contaminants and toxins, which could potentially result in health risks, symptoms, and other medical conditions/diseases including lower respiratory diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cardiovascular diseases.
These non-traditional settings could include community centers, pre-school and non-traditional college environments, child and older adult foster care facilities, older adult day care facilities, half-way houses, assisted living and long-term care facilities.
Fundamentally, the objectives of the program are all in conjunction with the idea of health promotion and disease prevention, as well as improving the quality of patients by successfully and steadily managing their symptoms.
In addition, the program also focuses on research studies that concentrates hard on symptom management in order to support and improve the present understanding of symptoms and at the exact same time, develop new methods that will radically improve the quality of life of the people who have been exposed to non-traditional settings.
The NIH and its partner agencies are prepared to administer funds in the amount of $275,000 to support the initiatives under this program.
The institutions and organizations who will be assumed eligible to submit an application under the Environmental Exposures and Health: Exploration of Non-Traditional Settings Program are the following:
a) Higher Education Institutions such as Private and Non-private Institutions of Higher Education
b) Nonprofit Organizations
c) For-profit Setups Like Small Businesses
d) State Governments and County Governments
e) City or Township Governments, and Special District Governments
f) Indian/Native American Tribal Governments
g) Independent School Districts and Public Housing Authorities or Indian Housing Authorities
h) Native American Tribal Organizations and Faith-based or Community-based Organizations.