Global Health Security through Strengthened Community Based Surveillance | CDC RFA GH20 2118

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA GH20 2118

The grant opportunity titled "Global Health Security through Strengthened Community Based Surveillance" (Funding Opportunity Number CDC RFA GH20 2118) is a CDC-led cooperative agreement under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services focused on strengthening global health security by pushing disease surveillance closer to where outbreaks begin: at the community and village level. The core goal is to expand Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) beyond its existing structure, which currently supports documentation and reporting from national, regional, and district levels down to health zones (or community health post level). In practical terms, this opportunity is about closing the last-mile gap in surveillance so that suspected cases and unusual health events are detected and reported earlier, rather than waiting until people reach formal health facilities or until signals become visible at higher administrative levels.

The project centers on extending IDSR reporting to specific communities and villages by enabling village volunteers or village alert committees (CVACs) to document and report IDSR priority diseases and notable health events. This implies building or formalizing mechanisms for community-based surveillance: training community actors to recognize priority conditions or warning signs, providing simple reporting tools and channels, and ensuring those community signals reliably flow into the existing IDSR system. The intent is to make surveillance more sensitive and timely at the grassroots level while still aligning with national surveillance standards, so information collected locally can be aggregated and acted on through the established IDSR reporting ladder.

Administratively, the opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding and uses a cooperative agreement structure, which typically means the CDC expects substantial involvement in program implementation, technical guidance, and monitoring rather than simply issuing funds and stepping back. It falls under a health funding activity category and is listed under CFDA number 93.318. The opportunity was created on March 6, 2020, with an original application deadline of May 11, 2020, and applications were required to be submitted electronically by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date. The listing anticipated approximately five awards. The award ceiling is shown as 0 in the source data, which commonly indicates the ceiling was not specified in the summary field (rather than implying no funding), and applicants would typically need to consult the full notice for detailed budget parameters and expectations.

Eligibility is broad and includes multiple levels of government (state, county, city/township, special districts), federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations, public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3) entities), for-profit organizations (including small businesses), and other entities as clarified in the full eligibility text. Overall, the opportunity targets organizations capable of working with health systems and communities to operationalize community-level IDSR reporting, strengthen early warning capacity, and improve the speed and quality of outbreak detection and response by integrating community-generated alerts into formal surveillance pathways.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control - CGH in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Global Health Security through Strengthened Community Based Surveillance" 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 Mar 06, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 11, 2020 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: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification), 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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