NIH Funding Opportunity for Obesity Policy Evaluation

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a new funding opportunity announcement for applications that propose to evaluate large scale policy or programs that are expected to influence obesity related behaviors (e.g., dietary intake, physical activity, or sedentary behavior) and/or weight outcomes in an effort to prevent or reduce obesity.

The announcement encourages innovative scientific partnerships between researchers and public or private partners (e.g., community based organizations, local governments, school districts, employers), and defines policy broadly to include both formal public policies at local, state and federal levels of government, and organizational level policies, such as those implemented by large organizations, worksites or school districts. Examples of appropriate studies include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Introduction of food or beverage taxes/subsidies/price changes/other incentives;
• Infrastructure initiatives such as retailers offering healthier food options in underserved areas;
• Changes to workplace food and/or physical activity environment;
• Polices expected to influence available options and purchasing, such as calorie labeling in restaurants, menu or food product reformulation, and supermarket layout or pricing strategies;
• Significant changes in policy or practice in large healthcare organizations that are expected to improve weight outcomes; such as changes in reimbursement, incentives, or wide scale implementation of prevention or treatment services;
• Modifications to the built environment to encourage active transportation or leisure physical activity, such as the implementation of bike lanes in urban areas, multi-use trails, subsidies for public transit, upgrades of sidewalks, or improved access to parks and recreation facilities.

The application cycle opens on May 5, 2013 and applications are due on June 5, 2013.