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A. Purpose and Priorities The National Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance Program will award grants that increase the understanding and adoption of established food safety standards, guidance, and protocols. Grants awarded through this program will be carried out in a manner that facilitates the integration of food safety standards and guidance with a variety of agricultural production systems, including conventional, sustainable, organic, and conservation and environmental practices carried out by the eligible entities. The assistance provided by these programs, to the extent practicable, shall be coordinated with and delivered in cooperation with similar services or assistance by other federal agencies or programs serving those eligible entities. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) have joined in a collaborative partnership to administer and manage the National Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance Program. This program is designed to develop a comprehensive food safety training, education and technical assistance program for those affected by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Specifically, this program will address the needs of owners and operators of small and medium-sized farms, beginning farmers, socially disadvantaged farmers, small processors, and small fresh fruit and vegetable merchant wholesalers. The joint program will award competitive grant funds that enable awardees to establish a National Coordination Center (NCC) for Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance and Regional Centers (RC) for Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach, and Technical Assistance across the country for food safety training, education, and technical assistance. Project Teams for the RCs will reach out into local communities to work wi

i. Purpose: The purpose of these activities is to support the goals of the HHS Action Plan for the Prevention, Care, and Treatment of Viral Hepatitis, 2014-2016 (available at http://aids.gov/pdf/viral-hepatitis-action-plan.pdf) by ensuring Hepatitis B-infected pregnant women are identified so that their infants can receive timely post-exposure prophylaxis, improvements in post-vaccination serologic testing to improve efficiencies, and data collection to assess infant outcomes ii. Outcomes: Increased identification of Hepatitis B-infected pregnant women; increased rates of post-vaccination serologic testing among infants born to Hepatitis B-infected pregnant women; and assessment of factors associated with infant outcomes iii. Strategies and Activities: Collaborations: To maximize opportunities for Hepatitis B prevention through vaccination, referral for care, and treatment of persons found to have chronic Hepatitis B infection, this FOA encourages Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Program collaborations and service integration as a program imperative of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. Such collaborations can increase efficiency, reduce redundancy, eliminate missed opportunities, and improve outcomes through the use of shared data and services. a. With CDC-funded programs: Applicants should create and build upon internal health department collaborations to improve identification of Hepatitis B-infected pregnant women; screen their household and sexual contacts for Hepatitis B and complete vaccination of susceptible persons; refer persons with chronic Hepatitis B infection for care and treatment; and report infants, household, and sexual contacts with chronic Hepatitis B infection to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System. b. With organizations external to CDC: Opportunities for collaboration with non-CDC organizations will be encouraged; non-CDC organizations may include commercial laboratories and health system

Pursuant to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended (FAA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) requests applications from qualified and eligible organizations to manage and implement the TRANSFORM/PRIMARY HEALTH CARE UNIT (PHCU) as described in Section I of this RFA. The overall goal of the program is to support the Government of Ethiopia (GOE) through the implementation of its new Health Sector Transformation Plan (HSTP) to End Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths (EPCMD). This RFA is issued in accordance with the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, and the Grants and Cooperative Agreement Act of 1977. This is a full and open competition, under which any type of organization, large or small, commercial (for profit) firms, faith-based, and non-profit organizations in partnerships or consortia from geographical code 935, are eligible to compete. In accordance with the Federal Grants and Cooperative Agreement Act, USAID encourages competition in order to identify and fund the best possible applications to achieve its program objectives. While for-profit firms may participate, pursuant to 22 CFR 226.81, it is USAID policy not to award profit under assistance instruments such as cooperative agreements. However, all reasonable, allocable, and allowable expenses, both direct and indirect, which are related to the grant program and are in accordance with applicable cost standards (22 CFR 226, OMB Circular A-122 for non-profit organization, OMB Circular A-21 for universities, and the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 31 for-profit organizations), may be paid under the Cooperative Agreement. Using a "Design and Implement" approach, USAID anticipates issuing one mission-specific Leader Award under a Leader with Associates (LWA) arrangement. An LWA arrangement involves the issuance of a grant or cooperative agreement ("Leader Award") that covers a specified regional activity. The Leader Award includes language that all

This announcement solicits applications for the Rural Health Care Coordination Network Partnership Program (Care Coordination Program). The purpose of the Rural Health Care Coordination Network Partnership Program is to support the development of formal, mature rural health networks that focus on care coordination activities for the following chronic conditions: diabetes, congestive heart failure (CHF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Care coordination in the primary care practice involves deliberately organizing patient care activities and sharing information among all of the participants concerned with a patient¿s care to achieve safer and more effective care. Rural Americans are unhealthier, with higher rates of chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, CHF, and COPD and have higher rates of high-risk behaviors such as smoking, physical inactivity, and poor nutrition.[1],[2],[3],[4] These high-risk behaviors cause many of the illnesses, suffering and deaths due to chronic diseases and conditions.[5] The increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and the high cost of health care in the U.S. bring treatment of the ¿whole¿ person to the forefront, especially as there are often psychosocial (psychological and social) issues related to chronic diseases; for example, there is a link between diabetes and depression. In addition, more mental health problems are seen in the primary care setting than other health care settings; thus, integrating behavioral health care into primary care helps address both the physical and psychosocial aspects of health and wellness. Reviews and reports from the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research (AHRQ) have shown a positive impact from integrating a team approach to care for a variety of disease conditions.[6] Health care coordination for people living with chronic conditions is vital to providing high quality care, especially in rural areas where access to health care is an issue. The main goal of care coordi

In September 2000, the Pew Environmental Health Commission issued a report entitled “America’s Environmental Health Gap: Why the Country Needs a Nationwide Health Tracking Network.” In this report, the Commission documented that the existing environmental health systems were inadequate and fragmented and recommended a “Nationwide Health Tracking Network for disease and exposures.” In response to the report, Congress appropriated funds in the fiscal year 2002’s budget for the CDC to address this issue. What is Environmental Public Health Tracking? Environmental Public Health Tracking (Tracking) is the integrated surveillance of health, exposure, and hazard information and data from a variety of national, state, and local sources. These systems are critical in preventing and controlling disease in populations. Having accurate and timely tracking data permits public health authorities to determine temporal and spatial trends in disease and potential environmental exposures, identify populations most affected, and develop and assess the effectiveness of policy and environmental public health interventions. Tracking involves the utilization of data and information regarding health outcomes, environmental hazards, and human exposures, or a combination of them, and provides important information for public health practice. The availability of these types of data in a standardized network will enable researchers, public health authorities, healthcare practitioners, and the public to have a better understanding about the possible associations between the environment and adverse health effects. What is the National Tracking Network? A key characteristic of Tracking is the emphasis on data integration across health, human exposure, and hazard information systems. The National Tracking Network (Tracking Network) provides the United States with standardized data from multiple health, exposure, and hazard information systems that includes linka

The purpose of these cooperative agreements is to further IHS health program objectives in the AI/AN community with expanded outreach and education efforts for the MSPI and HIV/AIDS programs on a national scale and in the interest of improving Indian health care. This announcement includes two separate awards, each of which will be awarded as noted below. The purpose of the MSPI award is to further the goals of the national MSPI program. The MSPI is a national demonstration project aimed at addressing the dual problems of methamphetamine use and suicide in Indian Country. The MSPI supports an AI/AN community driven focus on the utilization and development of evidence-based and practice-based intervention models that promote a culturally appropriate prevention, treatment, and postvention approach to methamphetamine use and suicide. The six goals of the MSPI are to effectively prevent, reduce, or delay the use and/or spread of methamphetamine use; build on the foundation of prior methamphetamine and suicide prevention and treatment efforts in order to support the IHS, Tribes, and urban Indian health organizations in developing and implementing Tribal and/or culturally appropriate methamphetamine and suicide prevention and early intervention strategies; increasing access to methamphetamine and suicide prevention services; improving services for behavioral health issues associated with methamphetamine use and suicide prevention; promoting the development of new and promising services that are culturally and community relevant; and demonstrating efficacy and impact. The purpose of the HIV/AIDS award is to further the goals of the national HIV/AIDS program. HIV and AIDS are a critical and growing health issue within the AI/AN population. The IHS National HIV/AIDS Program seeks to avoid complacency and to increase awareness of the impact of HIV/AIDS on AI/ANs. All activities are part of the IHS's implementation plan to meet the three goals of the President's National HIV/A

The purpose of this FOA is to have a significant impact on reducing rates of teen pregnancy and existing disparities (see pages 7-8) by replicating evidence-based TPP programs to scale in at least 3 settings in communities and with populations at greatest need. In each community served, grantees will be expected to: * Mobilize the community to develop and implement a plan to prevent teen pregnancy and promote positive youth development* Engage in an up to 12-month planning, piloting, and readiness period* Implement evidence-based TPP programs to scale with fidelity and quality in at least settings * Ensure that program materials are medically accurate, age appropriate, culturally and linguistically appropriate, and inclusive of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) youth* Ensure that programs are implemented in a safe and supportive environment for youth and their families * Establish and maintain linkages and referrals to youth-friendly health care services * Engage in strategic dissemination and communication activities to raise awareness of the program with youth, their families, and key stakeholders* Develop and implement a plan for sustainability to ensure continuation of program efforts beyond the grant* Collect and use performance measure data to make continuous quality improvements* Evaluate the implementation and outcomes of program activities.Supporting HHS Strategic Goals, Healthy People 2020, and the National Prevention StrategyThis FOA supports the HHS Strategic Goal to "Put Children and Youth on the Path for Successful Futures." Under this goal, HHS is committed to supporting both evidence-based programs and innovative approaches for children and youth in order to positively impact a range of important social and health outcomes such as child maltreatment, school readiness, teen pregnancy, youth violence, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), mental illness, substance abuse, and delinquency. HHS is inves

The Division of Child, Adolescent, and Family Health (DCAFH) and the Division of Healthy Start and Perinatal Services (DHSPS), both parts of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are accepting applications for the National Fetal, Infant, and Child Death Review Center (FICDRC or Center). Please read the entire FOA carefully before completing the application. The ultimate goal of fetal, infant and child death reviews is to prevent deaths of children through the use of information gained from systematic reviews that identify factors at the individual, environmental, clinical or systems levels that can be mitigated. Ideally by having this comprehensive review, factors associated with preventable deaths can be addressed. CDR and FIMR programs provide valuable information regarding fetal, infant and child deaths and provide insight into gaps in services, systems and modifiable risk factors not obtained from administrative surveillance systems. Information from these reviews can be used at the local, state and Federal levels to focus planning and policy development, quality improvement and health systems development, and to enhance efforts to develop and maintain risk reduction and prevention programs. This initiative will provide funds for a FICDRC to improve and strengthen state and local capacity to perform complete and accurate fetal and child death reviews including an estimated 1,200 CDR and 159 FIMR programs. Specifically, the Center will support the use of standardized data collection protocols and data elements to design prevention-oriented recommendations, and translate those recommendations into local, state and national program and policy development and quality improvement efforts. Through the delivery of data, training and technical support, the Center will assist State and community programs in understanding how CDR and FIMR can be

Nanomanufacturing is the production of useful nano-scale materials, structures, devices and systems in an economically viable manner. The NSF Nanomanufacturing Program supports fundamental research in novel methods and techniques for batch and continuous processes, top-down (addition/subtraction) and bottom-up (directed self-assembly) processes leading to the formation of complex heterogeneous nanosystems. The program supports basic research in nanostructure and process design principles, integration across length-scales, and system-level integration. The Program leverages advances in the understanding of nano-scale phenomena and processes (physical, chemical, electrical, thermal, mechanical and biological), nanomaterials discovery, novel nanostructure architectures, and new nanodevice and nanosystem concepts. It seeks to address quality, efficiency, scalability, reliability, safety and affordability issues that are relevant to manufacturing. To address these issues, the Program encourages research on processes and production systems based on computation, modeling and simulation, use of process metrology, sensing, monitoring, and control, and assessment of product (nanomaterial, nanostructure, nanodevice or nanosystem) quality and performance.The Program seeks to explore transformative approaches to nanomanufacturing, including but not limited to: micro-reactor and micro-fluidics enabled nanosynthesis, bio-inspired nanomanufacturing, manufacturing by nanomachines, additive nanomanufacturing, hierarchical nanostructure assembly, continuous high-rate nanofabrication such as roll-to-roll processing or massively-parallel large-area processing, and modular manufacturing platforms for nanosystems. The Program encourages the fabrication of nanomaterials by design, three-dimensional nanostructures, multi-layer nanodevices, and multi-material and multi-functional nanosystems. Also of interest is the manufacture of dynamic nanosystems such as nanomotors, nanorobots, and nanom

This announcement solicits applications for the National Training and Technical Assistance Cooperative Agreements (NCAs) Program to provide necessary technical and non-financial assistance to potential and existing Health Center Program[1] grantees and look-alikes (hereafter referred to as health centers) nationwide. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is seeking to fund up to four NCAs to provide training and technical assistance (T/TA) directly and through collaborative partnerships[2] to support health centers in providing better, more affordable care and improving the health of individuals and communities in accordance with the following Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) National Quality Strategy (NQS) priorities:[3] 1. Making care safer by reducing harm caused in the delivery of care. 2. Ensuring that each person and family is engaged as partners in their care. 3. Promoting effective communication and coordination of care. 4. Promoting the most effective prevention and treatment practices for the leading causes of mortality. 5. Working with communities to promote use of best practices to enable healthy living. 6. Making quality care more affordable and accessible for individuals, families, and the community by developing and spreading new health care delivery models. Target Areas Organizations that receive NCA funding under this announcement will provide specialized national T/TA to health centers in one of the following Target Areas: Oral Health: The Oral Health cooperative agreement will provide specialized T/TA to help health centers provide new high-quality oral health services, enhance the quality of oral health services currently provided, and accurately report on oral health care quality in annual reports to HRSA. Health Information Technology (HIT) and Data: The HIT and Data cooperative agreement will provide specialized T/TA to help health centers adopt, optimize, and implement meaning

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2015 PPHF-2015 Cooperative Agreements for State-Sponsored Youth Suicide Prevention and Early Intervention (Short Title: State/Tribal Youth Suicide Prevention Cooperative Agreements) (PPHF-2015). The purpose of this program is to support states and tribes (including Alaska Villages and urban Indian organizations) in developing and implementing statewide or tribal youth suicide prevention and early intervention strategies. The programs include collaboration among youth-serving institutions and agencies and should include schools, educational institutions, juvenile justice systems, foster care systems, substance abuse and mental health programs, and other child and youth supporting organizations; these efforts should include both a strong community component and a strong health system component. The ultimate goal of this program is to reduce suicide deaths and non-fatal suicide attempts. SAMHSA has demonstrated that behavioral health is essential to health, prevention works, treatment is effective, and people recover from mental and substance use disorders. Behavioral health services improve health status and reduce health care and other costs to society. Continued improvement in the delivery and financing of prevention, treatment and recovery support services provides a cost effective opportunity to advance and protect the nation's health. To continue to improve the delivery and financing of prevention, treatment and recovery support services, SAMHSA has identified six Strategic Initiatives to focus the Agency's work on improving lives and capitalizing on emerging opportunities. The State and Tribal Youth Suicide Prevention grants closely align with SAMHSA's Strategic Initiative on Prevention of Substance Abuse and Mental Illness. More information is available at the SAMHSA website: http://www.samhsa.gov/prevention. The

This announcement solicits applications for the Improving Timeliness of Newborn Screening Diagnosis program. The purpose of the initiative is to improve the time to diagnosis and treatment for babies undergoing newborn screening (NBS) who receive a presumptive positive result. This initiative will fund one organization that will facilitate and coordinate collaborative learning and quality improvement (QI) activities by newborn screening programs using strategies that improve newborn screening timeliness. The overall goal for this initiative is to increase the number of states that meet the Secretary¿s Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (SACHDNC or Committee) recommendations on timeliness and the number of infants receiving timely diagnosis and treatment. The SACHDNC¿s duties include providing advice and recommendations to the Secretary concerning grants and projects awarded under section 1109 of the PHS Act and making systematic evidence-based and peer-reviewed recommendations to the Secretary that include the heritable disorders that have the potential to significantly affect public health, for which all newborns should be screened. In order to achieve the best outcomes for babies, the Committee has discussed the following time periods to improve notification of results*: 1) Presumptive positive results for time-critical conditions should be communicated immediately to the child¿s healthcare provider but no later than the fifth day of life. 2) All presumptive positive results for all other conditions should be communicated to the child¿s healthcare provider as soon as possible but no later than seven (7) days of life. 3) All NBS results should be reported within seven (7) days of life. *On February 12, 2015, the DACHDNC will finalize these recommendations. The awardee is expected to use the DACHDNC¿s final recommendations. Program activites include: · Facilitate the implementation of practice-ba

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) and Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2015 Statewide Peer Networks for Recovery and Resiliency (Short Title: Statewide Peer Networks for R&R) grants. The purpose of this grant program is to create and/or enhance statewide networks that represent mental health and addictions recovery communities to improve access to and the quality of behavioral health systems, services, treatment and recovery supports statewide. Formal SAMHSA-funded networks already exist in many states for specific recovery and family communities; this program is designed specifically to bridge and unify recovery networks for mental health consumers, families of children with serious emotional disturbance and youth, as well as those in recovery from addictions. Current SAMHSA-funded Recovery Community Services Program-Statewide Networks (RCSP-SNs), and current and formerly-funded Statewide Consumer Networks (SCNs) grants and Statewide Family Networks (SFNs) will work together to enhance and promote cross-service system, peer workforce, and infrastructure development that is recovery-focused and resiliency-oriented. This program builds on the FY 2014 program for RCSP-SNs, SFNs, and SCNs to develop intentional, collaborative efforts via Memoranda of Agreement (MOA) and sharing of fiscal resources. The intent of this program is for RCSP-SN, SFN, and SCN grantees within a state to form a collaboration that will develop a strategic plan, share resources, engage in cross-training, increase capacity to affect behavioral health systems change at the state and local levels, and to improve behavioral health outcomes for persons in recovery from serious mental illness and/or substance use disorders, and family members of children with serious emotional disturbances and youth/young adults. Statewide Peer Networks for R&R are authorized under S

The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) is seeking applications from qualified organizations for Injury Control Research Center (ICRC) grants. These centers will conduct high quality research and help translate scientific discoveries into practice for the prevention and control of fatal and nonfatal injuries and violence that support NCIPC’s priorities and mission. ICRCs are expected to blend Outreach, Training and Education, and Research activities into a program to reduce the number, risk, and public health impact of injury and violence in the U.S. The over-arching goals for the NCIPC ICRC program are to: Build the scientific base for the prevention and control of fatal and nonfatal injuries and violence. Integrate, in the context of a national program, professionals from a wide spectrum of disciplines of epidemiology, behavioral and social sciences, medicine, biostatistics, public health, health economics, law, criminal justice, and engineering to perform research and provided technical expertise in order to prevent and control injuries and/or violence more effectively. Encourage investigators to propose research that involves intervention development or translation of effective programs among individuals, organizations, or communities. Provide technical assistance to injury and/or violence prevention and control programs in their geographic region, including other researchers; universities; medical institutions; community groups; state and local government agencies, public health agencies; and policy makers. Act as sources of injury and/or violence prevention and control information for their constituents and stakeholders at the local, state, tribal, national, and global levels.

The purpose of this FOA is to provide technical assistance (TA) to the Government of Kenya (GOK) and implementing partners in strengthening their capacity to design and implement systems to collect, analyze, interpret and disseminate high quality HIV data. To achieve this, the awardee(s) will complete activities under the following program areas: Program Area A - Surveillance and Epidemiology: Support the GOK and its partners in strengthening their capacity to design, implement, analyze, disseminate, and use data from epidemiologic studies to adequately and accurately measure outcomes and impact, while informing decision making and policy in the national and sub-national HIV response. Epidemiologic studies will include surveillance, surveys, operations research/implementation science and public health impact evaluations. Program Area B - Monitoring and Evaluation: Strengthen the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) capacity of health workers in program data collection, analysis and reporting as well as cohort analysis and program evaluation. The support will also include review, revision and roll out of M&E framework, tools, policies and standard operating procedures (SOPs), M&E coordination and collaboration at national and sub-national levels and support strengthening quality of HIV data through training and mentorship. Program Area C - mHealth: The third component will entail supporting the GOK units such as the National AIDS and STI Control Program (NASCOP), National Public Health Laboratory Services (NPHLS) and Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA) in mobile technology innovations (mHealth) projects that leverage mobile technologies to enhance efficiencies in the delivery of prevention, care and treatment of HIV.

High quality accessible strategic information (including surveillance, survey and routine monitoring and evaluation and health information data) is needed to monitor and evaluate the impact of PEPFAR programs, and to determine changes in disease prevalence and incidence in both general and high risk populations. While progress has been made in the recent years, weaknesses in the national strategic information supported by the Ministry of Health and the PEPFAR program still remain. This FOA is to build on the work of the previous FOA by providing technical assistance to increase the technical and organizational capacity of the Ministry of Health of (MOH) and other USG implementing partners, in the collection, quality, and validity of data and information systems used for monitoring, planning, and prioritization of the National program to combat HIV/AIDS. Activities listed under this FOA are intended to support the Ministry of Health and National Institute of Health in development of survey and surveillance programs, routine monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and health information systems (HIS) that are needed in the collection of vital statistics including HIV survey and surveillance, mortality statistics, disease modeling and develop demographic estimate projections related to HIV and other diseases. In developing individual and institutional capacity, including support for the development of budgeting and accountancy skills, and SOPs for the implementation of surveys, accountability, oversight skills, and human resource skills will aid in the development of future programs, guidelines, and more efficient utilization of data in national HIV/AIDS program.

The Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) will fund a cooperative agreement to support a Rural Assistance Center (RAC). The RAC is a gateway to information on rural health for residents in rural areas of the United States and for all others interested in the issue. Through daily interactions and responding to inquiries and concerns, the RAC will be able to ensure that ORHP and the Department of Health and Human Services are informed of developing and ongoing grass-roots issues in the rural U.S. The role of ORHP as the Department of Health and Human Service¿s focal point for rural information allows its staff to identify key regulatory and statutory issues. The staff of ORHP will work collaboratively with the RAC to prioritize key issues and develop information resources to share with callers and web users. It is also expected that RAC staff will produce publications to respond to emerging issues. ORHP and Department staff will review RAC proposals for publications to ensure that critical issues are appropriately identified. When publications are prepared for release, ORHP and Department staff will review them for accuracy and completeness. The awardee must be able to identify and facilitate access to information from a wide range of sources that deal with aspects of rural health care. ORHP will also coordinate information sharing between the RAC and the Rural Health Research Centers, the Rural Recruitment and Retention Network, State Offices of Rural Health, and other projects that are funded by the Office. RAC staff will work with ORHP to develop strategies for dissemination of key research findings and for providing synthesis of key research findings. The applicant should be familiar with providers of Technical Assistance (TA) for rural health care providers funded by ORHP and be able to make referrals, avoid duplication of services, and ensure that rural residents are directed to appropriate resources for their information needs. The awardee will provide

HIV+ alcohol users remain at high risk for medication non-adherence and rapid disease progression, medication toxicities, organ failure, and poor viremic control, leading to increased risk of transmission and premature death. Recent advances in technology and biomedical science (e.g., new pharmacological agents, alcohol and inflammation biomarkers, internet and mobile technology) open new opportunities for strengthening the quality of HIV/alcohol-related implementation research through utilization of novel technology and biomarkers. This initiative seeks to advance knowledge on implementation and comparative effectiveness of alcohol-focused interventions among HIV+ individuals. Multiple factors need to be investigated, including potentially important patient and provider characteristics, and the organizational, financial, and structural factors that facilitate or inhibit the delivery of evidence-based services for HIV+ individuals with a range of severity of alcohol use problems. The overall goal is to inform clinical decision-making to implement effective interventions that will improve prevention, care, and outcomes across the continuum of HIV and alcohol problem severity and patterns of alcohol use. This solicitation is divided into two major topics. An application may choose to address one or both. These topics include: 1) comparative effectiveness research focused on understanding factors related to early detection, patient engagement and retention in appropriate alcohol and HIV care, and achieving and maintaining optimal treatment responses in diverse settings, and 2) modeling and testing alternative implementation approaches to improve uptake and scaling-up of effective interventions and reduce HIV disease transmission and progression.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) in Burma and the National Department of Health (NDOH) in Papua New Guinea (PNG) plan to rapidly expand high-quality antiretroviral treatment (ART) coverage in the coming years by increasing capacity at existing delivery sites and decentralizing selected services to provincial, district and township levels. In order to accomplish this expansion, the MOH and NDOH need strong laboratory systems that ensure high-quality HIV diagnostic and clinical monitoring of patients at the existing and new service delivery sites. This will require strengthening the capacity of Burma's National Health Laboratory (NHL) and Papua New Guinea's Central Public Health Laboratory (CPHL), as well as building capacity of sub-national laboratories and improving the laboratory network in these countries.This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will be awarded to a technical assistance (TA) partner to provide support to NHL and CPHL in several key areas, including: (1) developing and helping implement standard operating procedures, policies, guidelines, and training materials related to management and operations of national and sub-national laboratories; (2) building capacity of NHL and CPHL staff to validate, conduct, and ensure strong (and often cross-cutting) quality assurance and monitoring systems for HIV-related diagnostic and clinical monitoring activities; (3) strengthening the overall laboratory network in Burma and PNG that may include specimen transport and right-sizing of various classes of laboratories; and (4) providing supporting mentoring of NHL and NDOH staff and opportunities for professional development.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2013 National Resource Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention (YVP-RC) cooperative agreement. The purpose of this jointly funded program is to serve as a national resource and training center to increase the effectiveness of youth violence prevention, prevention of mental, emotional and behavioral disorders, and promotion of the healthy development of children and youth. The YVP-RC will also provide technical assistance for SAMHSA's Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) and Linking Actions for Unmet Needs in Children's Health (Project LAUNCH) grant programs. Funding for this announcement is from the Youth Violence Prevention program in the amount of $4.599 million (74 percent) and $1.572 million (26 percent) from Project LAUNCH. It is SAMHSA's intent that the YVP-RC provide states/tribes, organizations, and communities with the resources they need to eliminate or reduce the impact of risk factors and promote positive and protective factors for children, youth, young adults, and their families. This program will advance the dissemination and use of prevention research to inform development and implementation of policies and programs across state and tribal agencies. Planning and implementation of statewide prevention programming and policies will be accomplished through the use of a public health approach. The YVP-RC also seeks to address health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities by ensuring that YVP-RC recipients are encouraged to develop and implement strategies to decrease differences in prevalence, access, service use, and outcomes among racial and ethnic minority children, youth, young adults, and families served.