Improving Health Security and Building International Health Regulations Core Capacities in the Republic of Uganda

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), through its Global Health Center, has announced a forecasted cooperative agreement opportunity titled Improving Health Security and Building International Health Regulations Core Capacities in the Republic of Uganda. This opportunity is released under assistance listing 93.318, Protecting and Improving Health Globally, with the stated goal of continuing to strengthen Uganda’s ability to rapidly detect, respond to, and manage health threats. The CDC is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with a longstanding history of supporting global health initiatives aimed at protecting populations against emerging infectious diseases and strengthening health systems. The Notice of Funding Opportunity is designed to address capacity gaps identified in Uganda’s 2023 Joint External Evaluation of its Global Health Security capacities. Areas of focus include enhancing disease surveillance, laboratory capacity, rapid response systems, and countermeasures for both human and zoonotic diseases. Additional emphasis will be placed on multi-sectoral preparedness, particularly in the context of Uganda’s National Action Plan for Health Security. The program intends to operationalize functional real-time financing mechanisms for health emergencies, establish a national border health program, and expand Uganda’s National Integrated Surveillance System (NISS) to ensure integrated reporting and workforce tracking related to human and zoonotic priority diseases. The funding mechanism will be a cooperative agreement, which allows for significant involvement of CDC in the program’s implementation. This underscores the collaborative nature of the initiative, ensuring technical guidance and oversight are in place to achieve the program objectives. The total estimated funding available under this opportunity is five million dollars, with an anticipated three awards. While the forecast currently lists the award ceiling and floor as zero, this typically indicates that final funding ranges will be determined in the official notice. Cost sharing or matching is not required under this program. Eligibility for the award is broad, encompassing a wide variety of institutions and organizations. Eligible applicants include private and public institutions of higher education, small businesses, state governments, county governments, city and township governments, independent school districts, for-profit entities other than small businesses, federally recognized tribal governments, other Native American tribal organizations, special district governments, public housing authorities, and both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. The eligibility is therefore considered unrestricted across major organizational categories, allowing both U.S.-based and international organizations that meet the criteria to apply. The timeline for this funding opportunity begins with an estimated post date of November 3, 2025, with applications due no later than January 2, 2026, at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. Awards are projected to be issued on August 31, 2026, with funded projects beginning on September 30, 2026. The forecasted status of this announcement means applications are not yet open but are expected to become available on the specified estimated post date. The archive date for the forecasted opportunity is February 1, 2026. Applications must be submitted electronically via Grants.gov. Applicants should plan to include detailed proposals outlining capacity-building activities aligned with the priorities set out in Uganda’s National Action Plan for Health Security and the findings of the 2023 Joint External Evaluation. As a forecasted opportunity, specific application requirements and evaluation criteria are not yet published. Interested applicants should prepare for submission by reviewing institutional readiness, identifying key program partners, and monitoring for release of the final Notice of Funding Opportunity. Contact information for this grant is provided by Broderick Yoerg, who can be reached at 404-234-0666 or by email at DGHPNOFOs@cdc.gov. Applicants are encouraged to reach out with questions once the final opportunity details are published. Given the complex and collaborative nature of this work, early engagement with the program officer may provide clarity on priorities, partnerships, and program design considerations that will be evaluated during the application review.