CDC awards $6.8 million to partners to support Zika response

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded $6.8 million to national public health partners to assist state, tribal, local, and territorial jurisdictions with their Zika responses in a wide range of activities, including surveillance and epidemiology, vector control, communication and outreach to pregnant women and vulnerable populations, and planning with key stakeholders.

This funding will help enhance surge capacity for Zika case identification and mosquito surveillance. It will also help improve communications to key populations, by developing focused educational materials, sharing mosquito control guidance, and refining community public awareness campaigns. The following public health organizations received funding:

• American Public Health Association
• Asian & Pacific Islanders American Health Forum
• March of Dimes Foundation
• National Association of Community Health Centers
• National Association of County and City Health Officials
• National Indian Health Board
• National Network of Public Health Institutes
• Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
• Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
• American College of Preventive Medicine
• Task Force for Global Health

These funds are in addition to the $1.6 million for Zika response work awarded to national partners earlier this year.

The current funding is being distributed by CDC’s Office for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support (OSTLTS) through an existing cooperative agreement with national nonprofit organizations to implement activities to strengthen components of the public health system, such as workforce competencies, data collection processes, and partnerships to promote the effective use of public health resources. Through this program, OSTLTS carries out CDC’s commitment to advancing US public health agency and system performance, capacity, agility, and resilience.

To date, CDC has awarded more than $100 million to states, cities, and territories to fight Zika, including:

• In July, CDC awarded $25 million through the Public Health Preparedness and Response (PHPR) cooperative agreement to help strengthen preparedness and response plans and nearly $60 million through the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) cooperative agreement to strengthen epidemiology and lab capacity, and mosquito control and surveillance efforts.
• In August, CDC awarded $16.4 million to help states establish birth defect surveillance to rapidly detect microcephaly and other adverse outcomes caused by Zika virus infection.

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES