Surveillance and Response to Avian and Pandemic Influenza by National Health Authorities outside the United States | CDC RFA IP21 2101

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA IP21 2101

The grant opportunity titled "Surveillance and Response to Avian and Pandemic Influenza by National Health Authorities outside the United States" (Funding Opportunity Number CDC RFA IP21 2101) is a CDC cooperative agreement designed to strengthen global influenza preparedness and response capacity, specifically through work led by national health authorities and their partners outside the United States. It is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), through NCIRD, and it sits within the health funding activity category under CFDA 93.318. The overall purpose is to build and sustain practical, country-level capabilities to detect influenza threats early and respond effectively, with an emphasis on both seasonal influenza surveillance and the rapid identification and management of potential pandemic influenza events, including avian influenza strains with pandemic potential.

This NOFO is positioned as a continuation and expansion of long-running CDC investments in global influenza surveillance and preparedness. It explicitly builds on earlier cooperative agreements (IP16-1603, IP16-1605, IP19-1902) and related awards dating back to 2004 through 2015. In other words, it is not a brand-new concept, but a renewal of a mature program area that has historically focused on strengthening surveillance systems, laboratory and epidemiologic capacities, and coordinated outbreak response functions within foreign ministries of health and affiliated national institutions. The continuation aspect also suggests the program is meant to preserve and further develop existing surveillance networks and partnerships rather than create parallel systems.

A central feature of this opportunity is the dual-use nature of influenza surveillance infrastructure. While the grant is targeted at avian and pandemic influenza, the NOFO also frames influenza systems as a foundational platform that can be leveraged for broader respiratory pathogen preparedness. That means investments in routine influenza surveillance, laboratory testing, reporting pipelines, and response protocols are expected to serve as a baseline that can be scaled or adapted when other respiratory threats emerge. The description highlights the intent to strengthen the ability to respond not only to influenza outbreaks but also, more broadly, to respiratory pathogen outbreaks, using influenza surveillance systems "as needed" as the surveillance base. This aligns with real-world preparedness logic: sentinel sites, specimen transport, PCR capacity, data systems, and trained workforce developed for influenza can be repurposed quickly when novel respiratory threats appear.

The funding mechanism is a cooperative agreement rather than a standard grant, which typically indicates substantial programmatic involvement from CDC during the period of performance. In practice, this often means recipients can expect ongoing technical collaboration, performance monitoring, and coordination with CDC subject matter experts, with activities shaped by jointly agreed work plans and cooperative agreement terms. The opportunity is listed as discretionary funding, and the eligible applicant category is described as unrestricted, meaning it is open to a broad range of entity types, subject to any additional eligibility clarifications in the full announcement. Even with an unrestricted eligibility label, the title and description make clear that the program focus is on national health authorities outside the United States and the systems they oversee, implying that proposed projects should be closely aligned with government-led surveillance and response priorities and implemented in partnership with relevant public health institutions.

From an operational perspective, the NOFO is geared toward measurable improvements in surveillance and response readiness. The core intent is to enhance the capacity of foreign governments to conduct ongoing seasonal influenza surveillance, detect unusual influenza activity that could signal a pandemic threat, and mount timely responses when outbreaks occur. That typically encompasses strengthening surveillance site networks, improving case detection and reporting, ensuring reliable laboratory confirmation and characterization of influenza viruses, and supporting epidemiologic investigation and risk assessment functions that guide public health action. Because the program emphasizes response, it also implicitly supports preparedness elements like coordination mechanisms, communication pathways, and the ability to translate surveillance findings into decisions about mitigation, clinical guidance, and other public health measures.

Key administrative details included in the source data indicate the NOFO was created on March 5, 2021, with an original application closing date of May 4, 2021. Applications were required to be submitted electronically by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the due date. The listing indicates an expected 60 awards, suggesting a relatively broad global footprint across multiple countries or implementing partners. The award ceiling is listed as 0, which typically signals that a specific maximum funding level is not stated in that field of the summary record and would need to be confirmed in the full NOFO or related budget guidance.

Overall, this opportunity is best understood as part of CDCs long-term strategy to support sustainable, government-led influenza surveillance and pandemic preparedness abroad, while also promoting flexibility so that the same systems can support detection and response for other respiratory pathogens. The emphasis on continuity from prior cooperative agreements, coupled with the cooperative agreement structure itself, indicates a program built around sustained capacity development, ongoing technical partnership with CDC, and readiness-focused outcomes that strengthen both routine influenza monitoring and surge response capability when a high-consequence respiratory outbreak occurs.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control - NCIRD in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Surveillance and Response to Avian and Pandemic Influenza by National Health Authorities outside the United States" 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 05, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 04, 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 60 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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