USAID Launches Emerging Pandemic Threats Program

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) is launching an Emerging Pandemic Threats
(EPT) program that builds on the successes of the Agency's long-standing
programs in disease surveillance, training, and outbreak response,
particularly those addressing avian and pandemic influenza. The focus of the
EPT program is to pre-empt or combat, at their source, newly emerging diseases
of animal origin that could threaten human health.

The speed with which diseases of animal origin that pose a risk to humans -
including HIV/AIDS, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), H5N1 avian
influenza, and the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus - can emerge and spread across
the increasingly interconnected globe presents enormous public health,
economic, and development concerns. This threat underscores the need for a
comprehensive, proactive approach that draws on a wide array of technical
resources to build sound detection and response capacity. USAID's EPT program
will focus resources on detecting dangerous pathogens at an early stage,
building appropriate laboratory capacity to support surveillance, responding
in an appropriate and timely manner, strengthening national and local response
capacities, and educating at-risk populations on how to prevent exposure to
these dangerous pathogens. The EPT program is being managed by USAID with
technical support from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and
the United States Department of Agriculture.

The EPT program is a comprehensive and interconnected intervention package
that will be implemented through five projects, each requiring specific
technical skill sets, but which will work harmoniously together to provide
seamless technical assistance and expertise in the field. The five projects
in the EPT program are as follows:

PREDICT: USAID has awarded a five-year cooperative agreement to a
constellation of leading experts in wildlife surveillance including University
of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Wildlife Conservation
Society, Wildlife Trust, The Smithsonian Institute, and Global Viral
Forecasting, Inc. to monitor for and increase the local capacity in
"geographic hot spots" to identify the emergence of new infectious diseases in
high-risk wildlife such as bats, rodents, and non-human primates that could
pose a major threat to human health. This award builds on our current
monitoring of wild birds for the H5N1 influenza virus to more broadly address
the role played by wildlife in facilitating the emergence and spread of new
disease threats.

RESPOND: USAID has awarded a five-year cooperative agreement to a coalition
of technical resources including Development Alternatives, Inc., University of
Minnesota, Tufts University, Training and Resources Group, and Ecology and
Environment, Inc. to strengthen the human capacity of countries to identify
and respond to outbreaks of newly emergent diseases in a timely and
sustainable manner. This project will focus on the development of outbreak
investigation and response training that merges animal and human health
dynamics into a comprehensive capacity for disease detection and control.
This agreement builds on over 30 years of USAID experience in building
long-term capacities in health training through twinning U.S. and local
academic institutions.

IDENTIFY: USAID is working with the U.N. World Health Organization (WHO),
U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Organization for
Animal Health (OIE) through existing grants to support the development of
laboratory networks and strengthened diagnostic capacities in the "geographic
hot spots" for new emergent diseases.

PREVENT: USAID has awarded a five-year cooperative agreement to The Academy
for Educational Development and Global Viral Forecasting, Inc. to build an
effective behavior change communication response to zoonotic diseases, support
efforts to characterize "high-risk" practices that increase the potential for
new disease threats from wildlife or wildlife products to spread and infect
people, and formulate behavior change and/or communication strategies and
interventions that meet the challenges posed by the emergence of a new
infectious disease. This award builds on ongoing behavior change and
communications efforts by USAID to prevent H5N1 transmission.

PREPARE: USAID has awarded a three-year cooperative agreement to
International Medical Corps to provide technical support for simulations and
field tests of national, regional, and local pandemic preparedness plans to
ensure that countries have the capacity to implement response plans
effectively during pandemic events.

For more information about USAID, please visit www.usaid.gov.

The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development,
have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50
years.

Public Information: 202-712-4810

SOURCE U.S. Agency for International Development

USAID Press Office, +1-202-712-4320