TheNational Institutes of Health(NIH) has awarded nearly $3 million to a University ofHawaiiat Mnoa-led project expanding COVID-19 testing in schools statewide. The funding supports thePacific Alliance Against COVID-19(PAAC) pilot project, which establishes a novel protocol for rapid testing at schools, collecting behavioral data, and disseminating information on mitigation procedures and vaccination.

The consortium effort is led byUHMnoasJohn A. Burns School of Medicine(JABSOM),College of Social Sciencesand the Accountable Healthcare Alliance of RuralOahu(AHARO).

PAACs goal is to empower educators, students and the community-at-large with education tools and connections with public health services, including those provided by theAHAROCommunity Health Centers, said Associate Professor in Pediatrics and co-investigatorMay Okihiro. The plan is for free antigen testing of school teachers and staff to be expanded to schools inWaianaeand Waimnalo onOahu, Hmkua-Kohala and Hilo onHawaiiIsland, and onMolokai.

PAACs novel protocol wassuccessfully tested this springin partnership with Kamaile Academy (K-12) inWaianae. The project offered free weekly SARS-CoV-2 antigen testing of teachers and staff.

About 87% of participants reported their participation led to a better understanding of the need for antigen testing, and 52% were more likely to be vaccinated as a result of the pilot testing and education program, said project co-investigatorRuben Juarez, a professor of economics and research fellow in theUHEconomic Research Organizationin the College of Social Sciences.

The project reaffirms that schools are an asset in preventing the spread of COVID-19 into our communities, added project co-investigatorAlika Maunakea, an associate professor inJABSOMs Department of Anatomy, Biochemistry & Physiology and the Institute for Biogenesis Research.

UHMnoa is one of 15 institutions to receive aNIHaward through theRADx-Underserved Populations(RADx-UP) Safe Return to School Diagnostic Testing initiative, a part of theRapid Acceleration of Diagnostics(RADx) initiative.

The new awards reaffirmNIHs commitment to use evidence-based research to inform policy makers of the safest ways to return to schools in vulnerable and underserved communities, said Eliseo J. Prez-Stable, director ofNIHs National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and co-chair of theRADx-UPprogram.

The initiative will specifically focus on schools with racially and ethnically diverse populations, including African-Americans, Latinos/Latinas, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans. It will also impact socio-economically disadvantaged populations and school districts where many students are receiving free or reduced price lunch; and students with medical complexities and developmental disabilities.

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UH Mnoa Gets $3M Boost to Expand - Big Island Now