Abstract
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The NIH has awarded close to $234 million in grants to 32 institution across the U.S. to ramp up testing for underserved and vulnerable populations to the COVID-19 pandemic. The RADx Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) program will address disparities among African Americans, American Indians/Alaskan Natives, Latinos/Latinas, Native Hawaiians, older adults, pregnant women, and those who are homeless or incarcerated.
To do this, RADx-UP will examine testing patterns among these underserved and vulnerable populations, in order to improve the data on disparities in infection rates, disease progression, and outcomes and to develop strategies to reduce the disparities in COVID-19 testing.
The grants fund three components to increase availability, accessibility, and acceptance of testing:
A collaborative clinical research network of existing large-scale programs that have adequate capacity, infrastructure, and relationships with underserved communities
Research on the social, ethical, and behavioral implications of these health disparities to inform the development and evaluation of testing programs
A coordination and data collection center at Duke University that will provide overarching support and guidance on administrative operations and logistics to facilitate effective use of COVID-19 testing technologies; support community and health system engagement; and provide infrastructure for data collection, integration, and sharing.