The Disparity Reducing Advances Project (the DRA Project) is a multi-year, multi-stakeholder project developed by the Institute for Alternative Futures (IAF) to identify the most promising advances for bringing health gains to the poor and underserved and accelerating the development and deployment of these advances to reduce disparities.

The Health Resources and Services Administration defines health disparities as “population-specific differences in the presence of disease, health outcomes, or access to health care.” The last century has seen major advances in public health, health technology, economic wealth and prosperity.  While these advances have translated into increased health status for Americans there are many underserved communities that have been left behind. 

The next decade will see a myriad of advances in prevention and treatment that will yield significant health gains.  Notable advances are likely in the recognition of the role of social determinants, community approaches to prevention, early cancer detection, patient navigation, chronic disease management, and complementary and alternative medicine.

Typically the poor and underserved are among the last to benefit from such advances. Health disparities in the US are significant. African-Americans are 23 percent more likely to die from all types of cancer than whites, and in 2001 the death rate from diabetes in Hispanics was 40 percent higher than the death rate of whites. Slow diffusion of advances plays a role in these disparities. 

The DRA Project works to overcome this reality by targeting the advances with the highest potential for reducing health disparities and then creating a network of organizations committed to accelerating the development and deployment of those advances. The DRA Partner Network includes health care systems and local providers, major Federal government agencies, technology developers, and consumer and patient organizations.

Founding Sponsors: National Cancer Institute, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

Sponsors: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American Cancer Society, Novo Nordisk, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Florida Hospital

*This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal Funds from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, under Contract No. NO1-CO-12400 and the Agency for Health Research and Quality, under Contract No. GS-10F-0322R.

*The DRA Project would also like to thank our DRA Project Partner Unnatural Causes for allowing us to use images from their documentary series for this website.