Addressing Emerging Zoonoses and Strengthening Animal and Human Health Systems | CDC RFA CK17 1702

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA CK17 1702

The grant opportunity "Addressing Emerging Zoonoses and Strengthening Animal and Human Health Systems" (Funding Opportunity Number CDC RFA CK17 1702) is a discretionary CDC cooperative agreement issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), specifically within NCEZID. The CDC planned to make a single award in fiscal year 2017 through a single-source application intended for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In other words, this was not a broad, open competition; it was structured to fund one recipient to advance a defined set of global public health and animal health objectives at the intersection of human, animal, and environmental health.

At its core, the opportunity aims to strengthen national and regional capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to health threats that emerge where animals, humans, and ecosystems interact. The focus spans several related problem sets: emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases (infections that can spread between animals and people), endemic zoonoses tied to poverty (diseases that persist in certain settings and disproportionately affect low-resource communities), transboundary animal diseases (TADs) that can spread across borders and disrupt livelihoods and trade, and broader public health threats such as antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The CDC frames this work as directly aligned with its mission because controlling disease in animal populations and improving food safety systems can reduce the likelihood that outbreaks spill over into humans or expand once they do.

The program highlights a range of high-impact diseases as examples of the kinds of threats the work may address. These include H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza and other zoonotic influenza viruses, MERS-CoV, rabies, Rift Valley fever, anthrax, brucellosis, and zoonotic tuberculosis, along with other emerging zoonotic pathogens as needed. The inclusion of these examples signals both acute outbreak risks (like novel influenza strains) and persistent, under-controlled diseases that impose ongoing human and economic costs (like rabies and brucellosis), indicating the award is meant to support both emergency preparedness and longer-term system strengthening.

The activities described are heavily capacity-building oriented and emphasize practical improvements that countries and regions can sustain. Key elements include strengthening epidemiologic capacity by improving surveillance, monitoring, and response functions; building animal health infrastructure linked to veterinary public health; and integrating animal and human health surveillance and control efforts so information and action can move more quickly across sectors. The opportunity also calls for enhancing laboratory practices, improving information systems and their interoperability, and developing, implementing, and evaluating evidence-based strategies. Taken together, these actions are meant to move beyond isolated projects and instead improve the underlying systems needed to track diseases, confirm diagnoses, share data, and coordinate response across ministries and jurisdictions.

A major intended outcome is that strengthened systems will help countries and regions map, identify, and predict disease risks earlier, then prevent and control disease emergence or re-emergence in animal populations before pathogens spill over into human populations or spread more widely. The opportunity also explicitly connects this work to food safety and public health programs, reflecting the idea that safer animal production and better monitoring of animal diseases can reduce risks to consumers, agricultural workers, and communities, while also supporting economic stability.

The cooperative agreement is positioned as highly relevant to the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) and its Action Packages, which emphasize building measurable capacities to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats. It also supports coordination under the FAO/OIE/WHO tripartite framework, reinforcing a "One Health" approach that treats human health, animal health, and environmental factors as interconnected. From the CDC perspective, partnering with FAO through this agreement is intended to broaden and strengthen CDC's reach in addressing global health threats by leveraging FAO's role, relationships, and technical platforms to build capacity across multiple countries and regions.

Administratively, the opportunity was posted with a creation date of November 21, 2016, and an original closing date of January 17, 2017, with electronic submissions due by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date. The listing notes an expected number of awards of one and an award ceiling shown as 0 (often used in postings where the ceiling is not specified in the summary field). Eligibility is described in the notice as "Others" with clarification referenced elsewhere, but the narrative makes clear that the CDC intended to consider a single-source application from FAO for this particular award.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control - NCEZID in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Addressing Emerging Zoonoses and Strengthening Animal and Human Health Systems" 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 Nov 21, 2016.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jan 17, 2017 Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 500 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 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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