Discover data collections, research projects, and funding opportunities related to nutrition, food insecurity, and physical inactivity in tribal communities.
Data Collections
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Adult Physical Inactivity Outside of Work Interactive Maps
CDC developed interactive maps showing differences in physical activity among U.S. adults by race and ethnicity and location in 2022. 27 states had a physical inactivity prevalence of 30 percent or higher among non-Hispanic AI/AN adults.
National Cancer Institute (NCI): Cancer Resources
For information on AI/AN specific cancer surveillance and tumor registries, as well as the programs that support these efforts, visit this National Cancer Institute (NCI) webpage.
Learn about AI colorectal screening programs and review cancer literature searches specific for Native American populations on NCI’s Native American Health webpage.
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Aids Research (OAR): Data Hub
To learn about funding opportunities and ongoing research on HIV/AIDS within AI/AN populations, visit NIH’s Office of Aids Research (OAR) Data Hub.
Research Projects and Resources
Centers for Diabetes Translation Research (CDTR)
The Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Diabetes Translation Research, funded under the Centers for Diabetes Translation Research (CDTR) program, has a mission to translate research of proven efficacy into practice in both clinical and community settings, with the goal of improving the diabetes-related health of Native people. Learn more about this grant award.
CDC: Keys to Success Tip Sheet: Enrolling and Retaining American Indian Participants in the National Diabetes Prevention Program Lifestyle Change Program
Including traditional foods in type 2 diabetes prevention programs serving AI/AN communities can help program participants achieve their goals. This tip sheet provides lessons learned and insights on how staff can include traditional foods and make their program more culturally relevant for AI/AN participants.
NIH: ADVANCE: Advancing Prevention Research for Health Equity
NIH provides funding support for a variety of research, training, infrastructure development, and outreach and information dissemination projects. The NIH Office of Disease Prevention is coordinating the NIH-wide research effort, ADVANCE: Advancing Prevention Research for Health Equity. As part of this initiative, this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) focuses specifically on preventive interventions to address cardiometabolic risk factors in populations that experience health disparities, including AI/AN people. In the United States, AI/AN children experience disproportionate health disparities, including high rates of diabetes, obesity, and dental caries when compared to all other groups. Youth from AI/AN populations also face socio-cultural barriers in school and community settings that undermine the importance of their Native identity.
NIH: Exploring Food Insecurity as a Social Determinant of Health Among American Indian and Alaska Native Adolescents at Risk for Gestational Diabetes
Exploring Food Insecurity as a Social Determinant of Health Among American Indian and Alaska Native Adolescents at Risk for Gestational Diabetes aims to explore how food insecurity impacts AI/AN females prior to pregnancy and will identify solutions to decrease food insecurity and diabetes health disparities in AI/AN communities.
NIH: Native Collective Research Effort to Enhance Wellness (N CREW)
The NIH supported program Native Collective Research Effort to Enhance Wellness (N CREW) supports Tribes and Native American Serving Organizations (T/NASOs). T/NASOs participating in the program conduct research to address overdose, substance use, and pain, including related factors such as mental health and wellness. Phase I completed in November 2023 with the goal to support T/NASOs to plan, develop, pilot, and implement research and data improvement projects. Projects have received an initial review, and the process to award the projects has been initiated.
NIH: Osage Community Supported Agriculture Study (OCSA)
The Osage Community Supported Agriculture Study (OCSA) will test the efficacy of a CSA program combined with culturally tailored nutrition and cooking education among Osage adults, evaluate its cost-effectiveness, and develop a multimedia toolkit for disseminating findings.
NIH: Promoting Linguistic and Cultural Identity through Bilingual Children’s Stories to Address Nutrition and Health in Indigenous Communities
The Promoting Linguistic and Cultural Identity through Bilingual Children’s Stories to Address Nutrition and Health in Indigenous Communities project will develop a platform for the creation, distribution, and consumption of Native-authored, bilingual resources. The resources, tailored to AI/AN families, will relate to health, nutrition, and traditional foods. The goal is to create a library of dynamic, bilingual children’s eBooks in AI/AN languages and English, with accompanying interactive activities to promote parent-child dialogue and co-reading.
NIH/NHLBI: Strong Heart Study (SHS)
The Strong Heart Study (SHS) is a study of cardiovascular disease and its risk factors among American Indian men and women, and is one of the largest epidemiological studies of American Indians ever undertaken.
NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS): Building Food Sovereignty, Sustainability, and Better Health in Environmentally impacted Native Americans
This National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) project will identify and implement safe and nutritious farming practices and restore food sovereignty through development of a farming system program supported by the Turtle Clan-founded Munsee Three Sisters Medicinal Farm. This innovative study will integrate a culturally centered, environmental road map created from community input for food sovereignty and sustainability that can be shared and disseminated to other environmentally impacted Nations.
NIH/NIEHS: Native American Health and the Environment
NIH supports research to determine how environmental agents cause or exacerbate human diseases, including research to improve the environmental health of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN). Learn more about these NIEHS-founded initiatives.
Research Funding Opportunities
NIH: Intervention Research to Improve Native American Health (IRINAH) Program
The Intervention Research to Improve Native American Health (IRINAH) Program supports research on interventions that aim to improve the health and well-being of Native American populations, including traditional nutrition and sports. IRINAH supports:
- Etiologic research that will directly inform intervention development or adaptations
- Research that develops, adapts, or tests interventions for health promotion, prevention, treatment, or recovery
- Research on dissemination and implementation that develops and tests strategies to overcome barriers to the adoption, integration, scale-up, and sustainability of effective interventions
The IRINAH program includes 3 different funding opportunities: R01 - PAR-23-298, R21 - PAR-23-299, and R34 - PAR-23-285.
NIH: Native American Research Centers for Health (NARCH) Program
The Native American Research Centers for Health (NARCH) Program funds federally recognized American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) Tribes and organizations for health research, research career enhancement, and research infrastructure enhancement activities. The NARCH program aims to support research directly linked to health concerns specifically identified, selected, and prioritized by tribal communities.
The NARCH program includes 2 funding opportunities: S06– PAR-23-166 and R34 – PAR-24-041.
NIH: Notices of Special Interest
The Determining the Tri-directional Relationship Among Oral History, Nutrition, and Comprehensive Health Notice of Special Interest Funding Opportunity supports research on the interplay of nutrition/food insecurity, oral diseases, and comprehensive health across the lifespan.
The Stimulating Research to Understand and Address Hunger, Food and Nutrition Insecurity Notice of Special Interest Funding Opportunity encourages research on the efficacy of interventions and development of new measures for nutrition security and the mechanisms of food insecurity on a variety of health outcomes.
