[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 162 (Monday, August 22, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52328-52329]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-21294]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
[CFDA 93.019]
Single Source Cooperative Agreement Award for the Gorgas Memorial
Institute of Health Studies
AGENCY: Office of Policy and Planning (OPP), Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In FY2011, HHS/ASPR/OPP plans to provide a Single Source
Cooperative Agreement Award to GMI to strengthen Panama's laboratory
diagnostic capacity for emerging infectious disease threats including
select bio-terrorism agents and novel influenza viruses. The amount of
Single Source award is $200,000. The project period is: September 30,
2011 to September 29, 2012.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
ASPR will exercise sole administrative oversight of this
cooperative agreement. ASPR will also collaborate with HHS-Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to coordinate the provision of
technical expertise needed for GMI to become a member of the LRN. GMI
will then implement critical laboratory diagnostic capacities,
including personnel training and infrastructure improvement to meet the
standards to become an international affiliate of LRN.
This collaboration seeks to expand the laboratory diagnostic
capacity of Panama and the Central American Region as GMI is a national
and regional reference laboratory for several infectious diseases. The
work will be performed to support the implementation of the World
Health Organization (WHO)'s International Health Regulations [IHR
(2005)] in Panama and in the context of Article 44 of the IHR (2005),
which directs State Parties to collaborate with each other to detect,
assess, and respond to events, and to develop, strengthen, and maintain
core capacities for disease surveillance and response to public health
emergencies.
Single Source Justification
GMI is a public health institution within the Ministry of Health of
Panama which provides research, public health services and advice on
public health policy development. It was created in 1928 and was
primarily funded by the United State Government (USG) until 1991. GMI
was named after General William Crawford Gorgas, the U.S. Army
physician who managed control efforts of yellow fever, malaria and
other diseases during the building of the Panama Canal. GMI contributes
to improve the health of the population of Panama and Central America
by acting as a national reference public health laboratory to diagnose
diseases like yellow fever, malaria, measles, tuberculosis, arbovirus
febrile illness, viral encephalitidies, influenza, dengue, hantavirus
cardiopulmonary syndrome, and all endemic viral and bacterial diseases.
Most recently GMI became a World Bank-Pan-American Health Organization
reference laboratory for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) for the
Central American region. GMI has well-established laboratories of
virology, parasitology, immunology, genomics, entomology and food and
water chemistry. GMI also has departments of epidemiology and
biostatistics, chronic disease studies, health policy, and health and
human reproduction studies. This infrastructure positions GMI as a key
institution in Panama's national research and public health systems.
In 2006, GMI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with HHS to
identify joint opportunities to improve preparedness for and response
to infectious diseases, placing specific emphasis on influenza and
other respiratory diseases. To further the goals of the MOU, GMI was
awarded two cooperative agreements by HHS-ASPR to increase its virology
diagnostic capacity and strengthen the surveillance of influenza virus
in Panama and Central American, and to develop a Regional Health Care
Training Center (RHCTC) for health care workers of the Central American
and Caribbean region. These cooperative agreements helped to establish
the first country-wide sentinel influenza surveillance network, and a
BSL-3 laboratory virology suite that was built and inaugurated in 2010.
In addition, complementary epidemiological and laboratory training
efforts took place at the RHCTC benefitting more than 5,000
professionals from Panama, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras and Nicaragua, and Dominican Republic. Based on the capacities
developed under these projects, the GMI was designated as Panama's
``National Influenza Center'' by the World Health Organization (WHO).
By supporting GMI to become a qualified member of the LRN, the USG
will increase its international network of laboratories that are fully
equipped to detect, assess and report the outbreak of emerging
infectious diseases including
[[Page 52329]]
novel influenza viruses and biological agents that pose a threat to
global public health. Through this international collaboration ASPR
will capitalize on GMI's influential position as an important regional
partner on disease surveillance efforts and public health emergency
preparedness. This new cooperative agreement will help to further
strengthen laboratory diagnostic capacity in Panama and other countries
in the region. GMI's strong collaborative relationships with
neighboring governments, as well as its training capabilities, and
laboratory infrastructure will be critical for the viability of this
partnership. In addition, this collaboration will support overall HHS
efforts to continue building capacity abroad with the ultimate intent
of detecting, stopping, slowing or otherwise limiting the threat or
actual spread of bio-terrorism agents or a pandemic to the United
States, thereby enhancing the health security of the American
population.
Additional Information: The agency program contact is Dr. Maria Julia
Marinissen, who can be contacted at 202-205-4214 or
[email protected].
Statutory Authority: Sections 301, 307, 1701 and 2811 of the
Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. 241, 242l, 300u, 300hh-10.
Dated: August 15, 2011.
Nicole Lurie,
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
[FR Doc. 2011-21294 Filed 8-19-11; 8:45 am]
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