Members of the Friends of the National Institute on Aging have sent a letter to President Obama requesting an increase of $500 million to support biomedical, behavioral and social sciences aging research efforts at the National Institutes of Health for fiscal year 2016.
The letter points out that the 65 and older population is expected to double between 2010 and 2050. This will come with an increase in the prevalence of diseases disproportionately affecting older people, most notably Alzheimer’s disease.
With this added investment, however, the NIH can:
- Implement new prevention and treatment clinical trials, research training initiatives, care interventions, and genetic research studies developed to meeting the goals of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s disease.
- Bolster trans-NIH initiatives developed by the NIH GeroScience Interest Group to understand basic cellular and molecular underpinnings of aging as a principal risk factor for chronic disease and to explore common mechanisms governing relationships between aging and chronic disease.
- Understand the impact of economic concerns on older adults by examining work and retirement behavior, health and functional ability, and policies that influence individual well-being.
- Support family caregivers by enhancing physician-family communication during end-of-life and critical care.
To read the letter, please click on the link below:
FONIA final FY 2016 OMB