Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA GH21 2164
The grant opportunity "Shoulder to Shoulder: Accompanying Ministries of Health in Central America in Strengthening Local and Global Health Security" (CDC RFA GH21-2164) is a CDC cooperative agreement designed to help strengthen health security across the CDC Central American Region (CAR), which includes Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. The premise is that these countries sit in a compact, highly diverse region where people, animals, goods, and therefore diseases move frequently across borders and between the region and the United States through travel, trade, and migration. Because outbreaks do not respect borders, CDC is aiming to reinforce both national and regional capacity so countries can detect health threats earlier, share information more effectively, and respond faster and more consistently.
A central problem the funding is meant to address is uneven public health capacity across the region, especially outside capital cities. The opportunity highlights gaps such as delays in reviewing and analyzing surveillance data, inconsistent quality in national reference laboratories, limited regulation and standardization for lab quality control, quality assurance, and biosafety procedures, and weak integration between key systems that should work together during routine surveillance and emergencies (epidemiology, laboratories, and hospitals/clinical services). In practice, these shortcomings can lead to slower detection of emerging infections, incomplete situational awareness during outbreaks, and less reliable diagnostic and reporting pipelines, all of which increase the chance that a local event becomes a wider regional or international threat.
The program is built around four intended outcomes. First, it seeks increased and improved public health surveillance systems, meaning stronger routine monitoring and more reliable ways to collect, manage, analyze, and use data for decision-making. Second, it aims to strengthen non-outbreak-related public health activities that tend to be disrupted when outbreaks occur, reflecting a common reality that emergency response can drain staff, budgets, and attention from essential services and ongoing programs. Third, it prioritizes enhanced public health laboratory capacity, including improvements in diagnostic ability, consistency, quality systems, and biosafety so labs can produce dependable results and support surveillance and response. Fourth, it focuses on enhanced outbreak and epidemic response, ensuring countries can investigate events, coordinate across sectors, and scale response operations when needed.
Beyond strengthening each country individually, a major emphasis is improving cross-country collaboration so surveillance and laboratory systems work better at a regional level. The goal is to create or reinforce integrated national public health networks that connect epidemiology, laboratory, and clinical functions, and to move toward international-caliber surveillance and response systems that can serve as regional resources. In other words, CDC is not only looking for improvements inside ministries of health, but also for stronger linkages among countries so information and best practices can move quickly and consistently across borders during routine monitoring and emergencies.
To get there, the NOFO anticipates work that starts with assessing current capabilities, capacities, infrastructure, and training needs. It then supports implementation through mentoring and technical assistance, with an emphasis on helping countries develop national guidelines and train personnel to international standards. This suggests the award is meant to be highly collaborative and capacity-building in nature, with recipients working alongside ministries of health rather than operating independently. The long-term direction is sustainability: building durable public health infrastructure and systems so improvements persist after funding cycles and so countries can maintain readiness even when there is no active crisis.
The funding structure is organized into three required components, and applicants must apply for all three. Component 1 focuses on core Global Health Security priorities (the routine, foundational work that raises baseline preparedness and system performance). Component 2 funds rapid response to small-scale infectious disease outbreaks or other public health emergencies when an event requires a moderate response beyond routine operations. Component 3 supports rapid response to large-scale outbreaks or major public health emergencies requiring substantial surge capacity. This structure reflects an intent to fund both preparedness and the ability to pivot quickly into response mode, recognizing that health systems need to function effectively day-to-day while also being able to scale during crises.
Administratively, this is a discretionary CDC funding opportunity under CFDA 93.318 using a cooperative agreement mechanism, which typically means CDC expects substantial involvement in planning, implementation, and ongoing coordination. Eligibility is broadly open (unrestricted) subject to any additional eligibility details in the full announcement. The opportunity anticipated about five awards. The posting lists the original application deadline as July 16, 2021 (11:59 p.m. ET), and it was created May 17, 2021. The award ceiling is shown as 0 in the provided data, which usually indicates the ceiling was not specified in that field or is defined elsewhere in the full NOFO rather than implying no limit in practical terms.
Overall, the opportunity is aimed at helping ministries of health in Central America and the Dominican Republic modernize and connect surveillance, laboratory, and response systems so outbreaks are detected earlier, assessed more accurately, and contained faster, while also protecting routine public health functions from being derailed during emergencies. The strategic value is both local and global: stronger national systems reduce illness and disruption domestically, and stronger regional coordination reduces the likelihood that outbreaks spread widely across borders and into international travel and trade pathways.Apply for CDC RFA GH21 2164
- The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control - CGH in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Shoulder to Shoulder: Accompanying Ministries of Health in Central America in Strengthening Local and Global Health Security" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.318.
- This funding opportunity was created on May 17, 2021.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 16, 2021 Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 1159 p.m., ET, on the listed application due date.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 5 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1) What is the name and reference number of this grant opportunity?
The opportunity is titled "Shoulder to Shoulder: Accompanying Ministries of Health in Central America in Strengthening Local and Global Health Security" and is identified as CDC RFA GH21-2164.
2) What type of funding mechanism is this?
This is a CDC cooperative agreement. A cooperative agreement typically indicates substantial CDC involvement in planning, implementation, and ongoing coordination during the project.
3) What is the overall purpose of this program?
The purpose is to strengthen local and global health security by improving public health surveillance, laboratory capacity, and outbreak response across the CDC Central American Region (CAR). The program emphasizes both strengthening individual countries and improving cross-country collaboration so health threats can be detected earlier, information can be shared more effectively, and responses can be faster and more consistent.
4) Which countries are included in the CDC Central American Region (CAR) for this program?
The region includes Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and the Dominican Republic.
5) Why is CDC focusing on this region?
The program description highlights that the region is compact and highly diverse, with frequent movement of people, animals, and goods across borders and between the region and the United States through travel, trade, and migration. Because disease outbreaks do not respect borders, strengthening capacity at national and regional levels is positioned as important for both regional stability and broader global health security.
6) What core problem or gap is the funding meant to address?
The funding is intended to address uneven public health capacity across the region, especially outside capital cities. The NOFO notes gaps such as delays in reviewing and analyzing surveillance data, inconsistent quality in national reference laboratories, limited regulation and standardization for lab quality control and biosafety, and weak integration among epidemiology, laboratories, and hospitals/clinical services.
7) What are examples of the public health system weaknesses described in the opportunity?
Examples mentioned include slow or delayed surveillance data review and analysis, variable performance and quality across national reference labs, limited standardization and regulation for quality assurance and biosafety procedures, and insufficient coordination between epidemiology, lab systems, and clinical/hospital services during routine operations and emergencies.
8) What can happen if these gaps are not addressed?
The opportunity notes that these shortcomings can lead to slower detection of emerging infections, incomplete situational awareness during outbreaks, and less reliable diagnostic and reporting pipelines. This increases the risk that a local event escalates into a broader regional or international threat.
9) What are the intended outcomes of the program?
The program is built around four intended outcomes: (1) increased and improved public health surveillance systems, (2) strengthened non-outbreak-related public health activities that are often disrupted during outbreaks, (3) enhanced public health laboratory capacity, and (4) enhanced outbreak and epidemic response.
10) What does "increased and improved public health surveillance systems" mean in this context?
In this opportunity, it refers to strengthening routine monitoring and improving how data are collected, managed, analyzed, and used for decision-making so countries can detect health threats earlier and act on reliable information.
11) Why does the NOFO emphasize protecting non-outbreak public health activities?
The description points out a common challenge: when outbreaks occur, emergency response can drain staff, budgets, and attention away from essential routine services. One outcome is specifically focused on strengthening those non-outbreak public health functions so they are less likely to be disrupted during emergencies.
12) What does the opportunity mean by "enhanced public health laboratory capacity"?
It includes improvements in diagnostic ability, consistency, quality systems, and biosafety so laboratories can produce dependable results that support surveillance and outbreak response.
13) What does "enhanced outbreak and epidemic response" involve?
The opportunity frames this as strengthening the ability to investigate events, coordinate across sectors, and scale response operations when needed, especially during outbreaks or major public health emergencies.
14) Does the program focus only on individual countries, or also on regional coordination?
It focuses on both. A major emphasis is improving cross-country collaboration so surveillance and laboratory systems function better at a regional level, including faster and more consistent information-sharing across borders during routine monitoring and emergencies.
15) What kinds of systems or linkages is the program trying to strengthen inside countries?
The NOFO emphasizes improving integration between systems that need to work together during routine surveillance and emergencies, specifically epidemiology, laboratories, and hospitals/clinical services. It also references creating or reinforcing integrated national public health networks that connect these functions.
16) What approach does the NOFO anticipate for implementing improvements?
The anticipated approach starts with assessing current capabilities, capacities, infrastructure, and training needs. Implementation is then supported through mentoring and technical assistance, with an emphasis on developing national guidelines and training personnel to international standards.
17) Is this program described as capacity-building and collaborative?
Yes. The description suggests recipients are expected to work alongside ministries of health, providing mentoring and technical assistance, rather than operating independently.
18) How does sustainability factor into the program design?
The long-term direction described is sustainability: building durable public health infrastructure and systems so improvements persist after funding cycles and countries can maintain readiness even when there is no active crisis.
19) What are the required program components applicants must apply for?
Applicants must apply for all three required components: Component 1 (core Global Health Security priorities), Component 2 (rapid response to small-scale outbreaks or moderate public health emergencies beyond routine operations), and Component 3 (rapid response to large-scale outbreaks or major public health emergencies requiring substantial surge capacity).
20) What is the difference between Component 2 and Component 3?
Component 2 is intended for rapid response to small-scale infectious disease outbreaks or other public health emergencies that require a moderate response beyond routine operations. Component 3 is intended for rapid response to large-scale outbreaks or major public health emergencies requiring substantial surge capacity.
21) Why does the funding structure include both preparedness and rapid response components?
The structure reflects the intent to fund day-to-day preparedness and system performance (Component 1) while also enabling countries to pivot quickly into response mode for both moderate events (Component 2) and large-scale emergencies (Component 3).
22) What is the CFDA number associated with this opportunity?
The opportunity is listed under CFDA 93.318.
23) Is eligibility restricted?
Eligibility is described as broadly open (unrestricted), subject to any additional eligibility details in the full announcement.
24) How many awards were anticipated?
The opportunity anticipated about five awards.
25) When was the opportunity posted and what was the application deadline?
The posting lists a creation date of May 17, 2021, and an application deadline of July 16, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
26) What is the award ceiling for this opportunity?
The provided data shows the award ceiling as 0, which typically indicates the ceiling was not specified in that particular field or is defined elsewhere in the full NOFO. It should not be assumed to mean there is no practical limit.
27) What makes this opportunity strategically important beyond the region?
The opportunity positions the work as important for both local and global health security. Stronger national systems help reduce illness and disruption domestically, and stronger regional coordination reduces the likelihood that outbreaks spread across borders and into international travel and trade pathways, including routes that connect to the United States.
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