Protecting and Improving Global Health Security by Engaging Local Partners: Strengthening and Sustaining Public Health Systems in Ghana | CDC RFA JG 26 0047

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA JG 26 0047

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), through its Global Health Center, is offering a discretionary cooperative agreement opportunity titled "Protecting and Improving Global Health Security by Engaging Local Partners: Strengthening and Sustaining Public Health Systems in Ghana" (Funding Opportunity Number: CDC RFA JG 26 0047; CFDA: 93.318). The overall purpose is to help Ghana build and sustain a more resilient public health system that can reliably identify, respond to, and reduce the impact of public health threats, with a strong emphasis on infectious disease risks. The focus is not on creating a brand-new program from scratch, but on strengthening and sustaining core public health functions and leadership in ways that last over time and can be maintained locally.

A central theme of the opportunity is partnership and country ownership. CDC intends to continue working through and alongside multi-sectoral and multilateral partners in Ghana, leveraging what already exists while filling critical gaps. In practical terms, that means supporting Ghanaian institutions and stakeholders to take increasing leadership in prevention, early detection, and response activities, while aligning resources and technical assistance across partners so efforts are complementary rather than duplicative. The cooperative agreement structure also signals that CDC expects substantial involvement during implementation, often including collaboration on technical direction, monitoring, and learning.

This NOFO explicitly builds on prior CDC investments made to advance Global Health Security in Ghana, especially in laboratory systems, surveillance, emergency response, and workforce development. Rather than treating these areas separately, the opportunity frames them as interconnected components of a functioning public health system: surveillance needs lab confirmation, emergency response depends on timely surveillance signals and trained personnel, and a skilled workforce is necessary to operate and sustain all of it. The desired result is a system that can detect threats earlier, investigate them faster, and coordinate effective responses that reduce illness and prevent outbreaks from escalating.

An important expansion in this funding cycle is added support for strengthening surveillance and laboratory capacity in border districts. This reflects the reality that disease threats often move across boundaries through travel, trade, and migration, and that border areas can be under-resourced while being high-risk for introduction and spread. By improving capacity in these districts, the program aims to reduce blind spots in national detection and improve the speed and quality of response when threats emerge near or across borders.

The NOFO also expands to include sequencing and bioinformatics, which are increasingly central to modern outbreak detection and response. Sequencing capacity can help identify and track pathogens, detect variants, link cases during investigations, and clarify transmission patterns. Bioinformatics capabilities are needed to analyze and interpret sequencing data so it can inform real-world public health decisions, not just generate laboratory outputs. Including these elements suggests a push to modernize Ghana's public health infrastructure and integrate genomic and data-driven approaches into routine surveillance and emergency operations.

The outcomes CDC highlights are aimed at preventing avoidable epidemics, improving early detection of disease threats, and ensuring Ghana can respond rapidly and effectively to public health emergencies. In plain terms, CDC is looking for measurable improvements in how well the system prevents outbreaks when possible, recognizes signals early when prevention is not enough, and mobilizes coordinated action to reduce harm. While the opportunity description does not list a specific award ceiling (it is shown as 0 in the source data), CDC anticipates making around four awards, and the application deadline listed is 2026-10-02.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of entities, such as various levels of government, public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofits (with or without 501(c)(3) status), for-profit organizations (including those other than small businesses), small businesses, tribal governments and organizations, public housing authorities, and other unrestricted applicants. That wide eligibility suggests CDC is open to partnering with organizations that can demonstrate strong technical capacity and credible local engagement, especially those positioned to work effectively with Ghanaian public health systems and partners to deliver sustainable improvements in surveillance, laboratories, emergency response readiness, and workforce capability.

• The Centers for Disease Control-GHC in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Protecting and Improving Global Health Security by Engaging Local Partners: Strengthening and Sustaining Public Health Systems in Ghana" 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 2026-08-03.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2026-10-02. (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 4 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, Unrestricted.

Apply for CDC RFA JG 26 0047

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