NIH Pushes Even More Cuts to Public Health Research After Cancelling Billions In Grants Earlier This Year
Washington D.C. – According to reporting from NOTUS, the “Trump administration is pausing new funding for National Institutes of Health grants that include terms like “health equity” and “structural racism,” pending review, according to new guidance sent to agency staff”.
The move comes just months after Trump NIH director Jay Bhattacharya (perhaps best known for spreading unfounded COVID-19 death denialism) assured NIH staff that “there is no list of banned words” in grant recommendations. Public Health Watch, a project of Protect Our Care assailed the objectively racist policy that flies in the face of indisputable, long-standing disparities in the U.S. health system that leaves communities of color behind.
“After promoting COVID death denialism, Trump’s NIH director is going all-in on inequity denialism in our health care system, which endangers public health for all Americans. The virtually guaranteed outcome of the Trump administration’s political NIH grant obstruction is more death and worse health outcomes for communities of color and LGBTQ Americans,” said Kayla Hancock, director of Public Health Watch, a project of Protect Our Care. “This callous policy will leave America more sick and vulnerable. These are actions of a weak, pathetic, and insecure Trump administration that at the same time bends over backwards to promote the woefully unqualified and incompetent, like Trump’s Secretaries of “War” and Health.”
In just a sampling of unacceptable disparities in the U.S. health care system that clearly warrant focused solutions and federal assistance:
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- Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White women.
- Hospitals that primarily serve Black and Hispanic patients are more likely to be underfunded, have worse staffing ratios, and face closure.
- Black patients are less likely than Caucasian patients to receive pain medication and evidence-based treatments for the same conditions.
- Black patients experience longer emergency-department wait times and are less likely to receive certain life-saving interventions.
- Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native adults are significantly more likely than White adults to delay or skip medical care because of cost.
- American Indian/Alaska Native and Hispanic people under age 65 had the highest uninsured rates at 18.7% and 17.9%.
- LGBTQ+ adults are significantly more likely than non-LGBTQ+ adults to report delaying or avoiding medical care because of cost, discrimination, or fear of mistreatment.
BACKGROUND:
- The Trump Administration Circulated Guidance Announcing the Cancellation of Health Equity Research That Doesn’t Align With Its Agenda. On Dec. 16, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) circulated new guidance announcing it would be pausing grant funding for research that doesn’t align with the Trump administration’s agenda, using a digital search tool scanning research proposals for terms like “health equity” and “structural racism” to be defunded.
- Earlier This Year, NIH Called For The Immediate Review of Health Equity Research, Singling-Out Research on Systemic Racism and Gender-Affirming Care. In August, NIH released a public memo calling for an immediate review of all current and planned research, specifically targeting research attributing health disparities to systemic racism, research on gender-affirming care, and more.
- Trump Has Already Terminated Billions of Dollars In NIH Research Grants For Biomedical Research on Health Disparities, Gender-Affirming Care, COVID-19, and More. In the first six months of Trump’s second term, his administration cancelled 2,100 separate NIH research grants worth around $9.5 billion. Many of these cancelled grants were related to biomedical research on racial and gender-based health disparities, LGBTQ+ health issues, COVID-19, climate change. The cuts forced several projects to halt clinic trials and sparked a harsh rebuke from hundreds of current and former NIH staffers.
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