Research funding(granting) agencies - Essay Example

The National Institute of Health is a federal agency that operates to support research activities for better health standards. The mission of the National Institute of Health is to “seek fundamental knowledge about behavior of living systems,” use the developed information to promote health, increase life expectancy, and reduce rates of illnesses and disability (National Institutes of Health, n.d., p. 1). The mission outlines a research-based initiative for knowledge development and application of research findings for better health among citizens.

The mission scope also identifies the agency’s resources for funding research and possible collaboration with other research institutions. The National Institute of Health has institutes, centers, and offices that implement the agency’s mandate. Some of its institutes that are relevant to health system management, through informing management, are the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Engineering, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institute of Mental Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (National Institute of Health, n.d.). . It further outlines the mode and dates of application, and indicates a formal approach to the agency’s funding announcements and procedures for applications and consideration of the applications.

The institute supports grant applications from organizations that conduct research to help address needs for existence and application of new technologies and techniques for care provision (National Institute of Health, n.d.). The agency’s mission is to facilitate and improve health at different levels of the society such as “individuals, families, communities, and populations” (National Institute of Nursing Research, 2011, p. 1). Pursuing the mission involves the institution’s direct and indirect engagement in clinical and basic research and through trainings.

These initiatives aim to “build the scientific foundation for clinical practice, prevent disease and disability, manage and eliminate symptoms caused by illness, and improve palliative and end of life care” (National Institute of Nursing Research, 2011, p. 1). The institution’s areas of research emphasis are “health promotion and disease prevention, quality of life, health disparities, and end of life” (National Institute of Nursing Research, 2011, p. 1). Funding announcements are made through the National Institute of Health and only links and brief descriptions appear on the agency’s web site.

The purpose of Healthy People 2020 is to achieve high living standards with a prolonged life expectancy among people. Its vision, mission, and initiatives communicate this, and its established standards that promote joint strategies among communities and sectors, “empower individuals toward making informed health decisions,” and determine effects of prevention measures support this. The