Public Health Strategies to Address Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias: The National Healthy Brain Initiative, BOLD Public Health Centers of Excellence, and Public Health Adoption Accelerator

forecasted

Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, is a progressive disease that begins with mild memory loss and may lead to the inability to carry on conversations and respond to one’s environment. The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease is rising with the aging of the U.S. population. In 2021, Alzheimer’s disease was the fifth leading cause of death for people aged 65 years or older in the U.S., as well as the seventh leading cause of death overall. Death rates continue to rise. The CDC Alzheimer's Disease Program, through the National Healthy Brain Initiative (HBI) and its funded partners (CDC-RFA-DP20-2003, CDC-RFA-DP20-2005, CDC-RFA-DP23-0010, and CDC-RFA-PW24-0080), provides data and information to promote brain health, address cognitive impairment, and meet the needs of caregivers through systemic and policy-driven action. This funding opportunity aligns with actions described in the Healthy Brain Initiative Road Map series, including the State and Local Road Map for Public Health: 2023–2027 and the Road Map for Indian Country.This opportunity will fund selected organizations to build the evidence base and translate research into practice that will be adopted and used across the nation. This includes helping state, tribal, local, and territorial (STLT) public health agencies — including BOLD public health programs —to implement the Road Map Series and fulfill the aim of the Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act (P.L. 115-406).This NOFO will consist of three components to accomplish these goals. Component 1: The National Healthy Brain InitiativeThe purpose of Component 1 is to fund one organization to develop and implement public health strategies guided by the National Healthy Brain Initiative (HBI) Road Map Series.The HBI Road Map Series advances brain health as an integral component of public health. It does this through an action agenda, outlining how public health agencies and their partners can prepare all communities to act quickly and strategically by stimulating changes in policies, systems, and environments. To achieve this, the funded organization will:Develop evidence-informed training materials for current and future health care and public health professionals about the importance of ADRD and caregiving.Increase the availability and use of public health surveillance information to address cognitive impairment, cognitive decline, and caregiver support, including helping to adopt and revise the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) cognitive decline and caregiver optional modules.Lead and facilitate the coordination of other recipients funded under this cooperative agreement, along with national partners funded by the CDC Alzheimer’s Disease Program, to address ADRD.Component 2: BOLD Public Health Centers of ExcellenceThe purpose of Component 2 is to fund three Public Health Centers of Excellence that will specialize in one of three topic-specific areas: dementia risk reduction, early detection and management of dementia, or dementia caregiving. Only one Public Health Center of Excellence will be funded for each topic-specific area.These funded centers will:Support and determine the needs of BOLD public health programs and other public health agencies.Identify, disseminate, and promote best practices.Translate promising research findings into useful tools and resources for the practice field.Increase professional education in ADRD.Develop and adapt materials for use by populations at risk for or high incidence of ADRD, including addressing health disparities.The funded centers will provide expert guidance and technical assistance to BOLD public health programs to build public health capacity and collaborate with national experts to make sure evidence-informed practices for their topic areas are available, disseminated, adopted, and evaluated.Component 3: ADRD Public Health Adoption AcceleratorThe purpose of Component 3 is to fund up to two organizations to serve as public health strategy adoption accelerator programs. This means using dissemination and implementation science to spread and put into practice effective public health strategies, tools, and resources to tackle ADRD.The funded organization will:Work closely with CDC staff and those working on other components of this announcement to create a prioritized list of ADRD approaches and strategies. High priority approaches and strategies will include those that have the greatest likelihood of health impact, are most ready to be scaled-up, and meet the needs of populations at highest risk for ADRD.Use proven strategies to engage partners, health care organizations, and policy makers on a national scale to enhance uptake and implementation, accelerating the impact of ADRD efforts.Advise and partner with the Component 1 and 2 recipients of this NOFO, including to provide technical assistance to help promote and disseminate their work for maximum impact across all components. Applicants can apply for more than one component but must submit a separate application for each component. The funding range per applicant per budget period for Component 1 is $2,500,000 to $3,000,000; Component 2 is $750,000 to $1,000,000; and Component 3 is $750,000 to $1,200,000.