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The 2014-2016 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Liberia exposed the acute vulnerability of Liberia's public health system. Limited laboratory capacity and resources, including lack of diagnostic capacities to test for infectious diseases, an unreliable blood supply with inadequate blood services, and poor to non-existent infection prevention and control (IPC) resources and practices in health facilities and laboratories left the Liberian health system unprepared for the EVD outbreak. Significant investments and gains have been made since 2014 to strengthen Liberia's public health system; however, the system remains fragile. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in coordination with the Government of Liberia (GOL) and local and international partners, continues to support health system strengthening activities, further building Liberia's capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to disease outbreaks at their source. This NOFO supports activities to strengthen laboratory capacities, further developing a competent laboratory workforce and expanding diagnostic capacities, reinforced through laboratory quality management activities; improved blood transfusion practices to build and maintain quality blood transfusion services; and strengthening infection prevention and control practices, with the goal of reducing transmission of epidemic prone diseases and antimicrobial resistance within healthcare facilities. These activities align with Global Health Security Agenda priorities in preventing, detecting and responding to potential public health threats. In order to continue efforts to maintain and expand Liberia's capabilities to prevent, detect, and respond to potential infectious disease outbreaks, CDC, the GOL, and partners must work to ensure a rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases.

The Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems Division (ECCS) supports enabling and transformative engineering research at the nano, micro, and macro scales that fuels progress in engineering system applications with high societal impact. This includes fundamental engineering research underlying advanced devices and components and their seamless penetration in power, controls, networking, communications or cyber systems. The research is envisioned to be empowered by cutting-edge computation, synthesis, evaluation, and analysis technologies and is to result in significant impact for a variety of application domains in healthcare, homeland security, disaster mitigation, telecommunications, energy, environment, transportation, manufacturing, and other systems-related areas. ECCS also supports new and emerging research areas encompassing 5G and Beyond Spectrum and Wireless Technologies, Quantum Information Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Big Data.

The goal of this FOA is to support research that will lead to a greater understanding of complex mechanisms by which the brain glymphatic system and meningeal and peripheral lymphatic systems change in normal and pathological brains. This knowledge is critical to determine whether a functional impairment or disruption of these systems may be involved in neurological disorders that are associated with immune system dysfunction, such as Alzheimer's disease.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) supports Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant applications from small business concerns (SBCs) that will develop and/or validate devices or electronic systems that can: 1) monitor biologically- or behaviorally-based processes applicable to mind and body interventions or 2) be used to assist in optimizing the practice or increasing the efficacy of mind and body interventions.  The applications should: 1) lead to the development of new technologies, 2) adapt existing innovative technologies, devices and/or electronic systems, 3) repurpose existing devices and electronic systems, or 4) conduct testing of single or combined components of an integrated, long term, automated, wearable monitoring, stimulation device or electronic system in order to monitor or enhance the mechanistic processes or functional outcomes of mind and body interventions. For the purposes of this FOA, mind and body interventions are defined as non-pharmacological approaches that include mind/brain focused interventions (e.g., meditation, hypnosis), body-based approaches (e.g., acupuncture, massage, spinal manipulation/mobilization), or combined mind and body meditative movement approaches (e.g., yoga, tai-chi, qigong).  

The goal of the Smart and Connected Health (SCH) Program is to accelerate the development and use of innovative approaches that would support the much needed transformation of healthcare from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive, proactive, evidence-based, person-centered and focused on well-being rather than disease. Approaches that partner technology-based solutions with biobehavioral health research are supported by multiple agencies of the federal government including the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The purpose of this program is to develop next generation health care solutions and encourage existing and new research communities to focus on breakthrough ideas in a variety of areas of value to health, such as sensor technology, networking, information and machine learning technology, decision support systems, modeling of behavioral and cognitive processes, as well as system and process modeling. Effective solutions must satisfy a multitude of constraints arising from clinical/medical needs, social interactions, cognitive limitations, barriers to behavioral change, heterogeneity of data, semantic mismatch and limitations of current cyberphysical systems. Such solutions demand multidisciplinary teams ready to address technical, behavioral and clinical issues ranging from fundamental science to clinical practice.

The goal of the Smart and Connected Health (SCH) Program is to accelerate the development and use of innovative approaches that would support the much needed transformation of healthcare from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive, proactive, evidence-based, person-centered and focused on well-being rather than disease. Approaches that partner technology-based solutions with biobehavioral health research are supported by multiple agencies of the federal government including the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The purpose of this program is to develop next generation health care solutions and encourage existing and new research communities to focus on breakthrough ideas in a variety of areas of value to health, such as sensor technology, networking, information and machine learning technology, decision support systems, modeling of behavioral and cognitive processes, as well as system and process modeling. Effective solutions must satisfy a multitude of constraints arising from clinical/medical needs, social interactions, cognitive limitations, barriers to behavioral change, heterogeneity of data, semantic mismatch and limitations of current cyberphysical systems. Such solutions demand multidisciplinary teams ready to address technical, behavioral and clinical issues ranging from fundamental science to clinical practice.

Reliable, efficient laboratory services and networks are fundamental components of effective, well-functioning health systems and are essential for patient management, disease detection and control and surveillance. The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support the Ministry of Health in Mozambique to strengthen the integrated national laboratory network in order to ensure the provision of quality laboratory services for clinical diagnosis, screening, research, and surveillance to support HIV care and treatment and the achievement of an AIDS free generation. The FOA will address the following cross-cutting elements of laboratory systems: governance and management of the integrated laboratory network, strengthening institutions to build and retain a quality laboratory workforce, and building technical and scientific capacity and implementing quality management systems towards accreditation. The expected project outcomes include:* Increased efficiency of laboratory network operations* Increased implementation of quality management systems through a technically and financially sustainable quality improvement and accreditation program owned and implemented by the Ministry of Health* An increase in the coverage and quality of external quality assessment (EQA) services* Improved adherence to laboratory biosafety standards* Improved quality of laboratory pre-service training * Increase in number of laboratory managers and leaders with Master's level training* Improved capacity of laboratory workforce and decreased reliance on external training support

The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to provide technical assistance (TA) to the Government of Kenya (GOK) and PEPFAR implementing partners in strengthening medical laboratory systems for diagnosis, management, and surveillance of HIV, TB and other related opportunistic diseases. Up to five grantees will be selected. Each will work in one of four specific regions (A, B, C and D) covering several counties to support all technical areas described below in each region. Except, the grantee supporting Region A will additionally support laboratory systems at National Public Health Laboratory Services and Ministry of Health (MOH) headquarters. The grantee(s) will: (1) Provide technical assistance to develop laboratory policies and systems for sample handling/processing, laboratory networking, information management, supplies management, human capacity development, biosafety, quality management systems (QMS), and monitoring and evaluation (M&E).

The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to expand the vision and eye health surveillance system by identifying and incorporating new data sources and validating data and key indicators, maintaining the existing system, and promoting the vision and eye health surveillance system to stakeholders to monitor the burden of vision loss and eye diseases and ultimately to improve the vision and eye health of the nation. Vision loss is recognized as a public health problem because it affects more than 4 million people aged 40 years and older in the United States. It is associated with higher prevalence of multiple chronic conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular health, falls, injuries, depression, smoking, premature mortality and overall poorer quality of life. The United States government in Healthy People 2010 and 2020, in conjunction with the vision and eye care communities, have identified the reduction of population disparities in vision loss and access to eye care services as top public health priorities. Despite the knowledge about the individual and societal burden of vision loss and eye diseases, the public health surveillance system in the United States has only just begun to systematically understand and monitor the magnitude and implications of vision loss, access to eye care, and effectiveness of services that potentially improve health and quality of life of those who are at risk of or experience vision loss.

The purpose of this FOA is to solicit applications for the AD/ADRD Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory ("Collaboratory", henceforth) to improve care for persons with dementia (PWD) and their caregivers through health systems. Health and long-term systems for this FOA are defined broadly and include organizations providing care across settings to include primary and specialty outpatient care, acute inpatient care, skilled nursing and other rehabilitation facilities, residential long-term care, and home and community-based services. Organizations may be traditional health care systems (e.g., health maintenance organizations, or HMOs), health insurance companies, managed care plans, home health care providers, memory clinics, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, outpatient clinics, federally-designated health centers, hospitals, and other providers of acute and long-term care.

This notice announces the opportunity to apply for funding for the Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America - Technical Assistance Provider (TAP) and/or Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America - Systems Coordination Provider (SCP), as administered by the HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) in conjunction with the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) Parts A and B. The purpose of this program is to fund technical assistance and systems coordination for the 48 counties, Washington, D.C., San Juan, Puerto Rico (PR), and seven states (hereafter referred to as "jurisdictions") identified in and funded through HRSA-20-078 (the funded entities hereafter referred to as "recipients"). HRSA will award one cooperative agreement for each of the following announcement numbers: * The Technical Assistance Provider (TAP) funded under HRSA-20-079 is responsible for providing technical assistance to the recipients of HRSA-20-078 on implementation of work plan activities, innovative approaches, and interventions. * The Systems Coordination Provider (SCP) funded under HRSA-20-089 is responsible for assisting HRSA-20-078 recipients in coordinating and integrating their initiative plans, funding sources, and programs with the existing HIV care delivery systems. In addition, the SCP will assist in identifying existing and new stakeholders, as well as collate and disseminate best practices, innovative approaches, and interventions identified by the TAP that will advance recipients' progress in meeting the goals of the initiative.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages research grant applications directed toward developing next-generation human cell-derived microphysiological systems (MPS) with improved fidelity to complex human brain, spinal, peripheral nervous system and/or sensory end organ circuit physiology in vivo, which will ultimately facilitate analysis of higher order functional deficits relevant to complex nervous system disorders.

RWJF seeks to advance systemic changes that embed health in school environments. To help advance these systemic changes, the Foundation will support a collaborative, multipronged strategy with three complementary areas of work related to Research, Policy, and Strategic Action.

RWJF seeks to advance systemic changes that embed health in school environments. To help advance these systemic changes, the Foundation will support a collaborative, multipronged strategy with three complementary areas of work related to Research, Policy, and Strategic Action.

CISE's Division of Computer and Network Systems (CNS) supports research and education projects that develop new knowledge in two core programs: Computer Systems Research (CSR) program; and Networking Technology and Systems (NeTS) program. Proposers are invited to submit proposals in three project classes, which are defined as follows: Small Projects - up to $500,000 total budget with durations up to three years; Medium Projects - $500,001 to $1,200,000 total budget with durations up to four years; and Large Projects - $1,200,001 to $3,000,000 total budget with durations up to five years.

The purpose of this FOA is to invite applications that investigate aspects of lymphatic vessel physiology, development and pathophysiology related to health and diseases of the digestive system. Studies to understand the factors that control local lymphatic vessel functional anatomy and physiology and development during health or disease in this system and its organs, and the mechanisms by which alterations of lymphatic vessel function affect organ function, are of interest. However, studies with the major focus on immune mechanisms, role of lymphatics in cancer metastasis and study of lymphatic vessels in organs other than those from the digestive system will not be considered responsive.

Systems for Action (S4A) is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that aims to discover and apply new evidence about ways of aligning the delivery and financing systems for medical, social, and public health services that support a Culture of Health. S4A uses a wide research lens that includes and extends beyond medical care and public health systems to include other sectors that affect health and well-being, such as housing, transportation, social services, education, criminal and juvenile justice, and economic and community development.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to promote the discovery and validation of novel therapeutic targets to facilitate the development of pain therapeutics. Specifically, the focus of this FOA is on the basic science discovery of targets in the peripheral nervous system, central nervous system, immune system or other tissues in the body that can be used to develop treatments that have minimal side effects and little to no abuse/addiction liability. Research supported by this FOA must include rigorous validation studies to demonstrate the robustness of the target as a pain treatment target. This will lower the risk of adopting the target in translational projects to develop small molecules, biologics, natural substances, or devices that interact with this target for new pain treatments. Translational research to develop new medical devices are not the focus of this FOA. Basic science studies of pain and related systems in the body are responsive to this FOA and are encouraged in the context of novel pain therapeutic target discovery. This FOA is not specific for any one or group of pain conditions. Projects to identify novel targets for acute pain, chronic pain, migraine, other headache disorders, osteoarthritis, diabetic neuropathy, chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, sickle-cell pain, post stroke pain, etc. will be considered. Projects to identify novel targets for a combination of chronic overlapping pain conditions or for specific pathological conditions will be considered. Projects that seek to identify novel targets in specific populations such as women, children, older adults or other underrepresented groups will also be responsive to this FOA.

Computational neuroscience provides a theoretical foundation and a rich set of technical approaches for understanding complex neurobiological systems, building on the theory, methods, and findings of computer science, neuroscience, and numerous other disciplines. Through the CRCNS program, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF), the French National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche, ANR), the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF), and Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) support collaborative activities that will advance the understanding of nervous system structure and function, mechanisms underlying nervous system disorders, and computational strategies used by the nervous system.

Nigeria has a projected estimated population size of 203,452,505 (July 2018), which makes Nigeria the most populous nation in Africa. The country's National Health Act 2014 (NHA 2014) was signed into law on October 31, 2014 and provides a legal framework for the regulation and management of Nigeria's national health system, however, much work is needed to operationalize the law. Monitoring and mitigating recurring infectious disease outbreaks, as well as detecting and controlling emerging infectious diseases, will be impacted by multiple factors that include inadequate surveillance and response systems, weakened or non-existent infrastructure and health systems and poor coordination among stakeholder agencies. Nigeria is a major gateway to many global destinations. In July 2014, the index case in the Nigeria Ebola Virus disease outbreak arrived at the international airport in Lagos, Nigeria. This index patient potentially exposed 72 persons at the airport and the hospital where he was admitted. The Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), with guidance from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), declared an Ebola emergency and rapidly implemented a response using all available public health assets and resources. An Ebola Incident Management Center (a precursor to the current Emergency Operations Center) was established to rapidly respond to the 2014 outbreak. Using an Incident Management System (IMS) to coordinate the response and consolidate decision making, largely contributed to helping contain the Nigeria outbreak early.

Timely and reliable laboratory data are an essential component of a well-functioning national health system. This FOA will support strengthening the quality, accessibility, and sustainability of the NHLS across a six-tiered network, i.e., at the national, zonal, regional, district, health center, and dispensary levels. Technical assistance will focus on improving the quality assurance of HIV rapid testing, TB microscopy and GeneXpert; Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) and Viral Load (VL) testing; establishment and maintenance of efficient sample referral system and transport networks; implementation of laboratory Quality Management Systems; implementation of Laboratory Information Management Systems; scale up of EID and VL monitoring programs; quantification and forecasting of laboratory commodities; HIV Drug Resistance Surveillance; and, effective use of laboratory data for program management.

This amendment is for informational purposes only. CDC announces the availability of funds for a regional, nonprofit organization to strengthen the quality, performance and sustainability of the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands’ governmental and nongovernmental components of the public health system through the provision of capacity-building assistance. This FOA provides funding for activities that increase capacity for public health leadership, workforce, public health systems and other components of the public health system. For the five year project period the applicant is expected to increase capacity in at least three of the six areas: 1) USAPI public health leadership knowledge and skills; 2) organizational infrastructures and processes; 3) public health workforce competencies; 4) development and implementation of public health laws and policies; 5) dissemination of evidence-based practices; and 6) establishment of monitoring and surveillance systems. In this FOA, capacity building is defined as the development and strengthening of human and organizational resources.