Strengthening Public Health Laboratory Systems in the Republic of Cameroon under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) | CDC RFA GH17 1719

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA GH17 1719

This funding opportunity, titled "Strengthening Public Health Laboratory Systems in the Republic of Cameroon under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)," is a CDC cooperative agreement designed to help the Government of Cameroon strengthen and modernize its public health laboratory system as a core part of the national HIV response. The overall aim is to build sustainable, locally led laboratory infrastructure and diagnostic workforce capacity across Cameroon's tiered health system, so that HIV and HIV-related infections can be diagnosed accurately, monitored reliably, and managed effectively in districts supported by PEPFAR. Rather than focusing on one isolated lab activity, the opportunity is structured around system-wide improvements that connect quality management, workforce development, data systems, and specimen transport into a single, functional laboratory network.

A central emphasis of the program is the rollout of continuous quality improvement (CQI) approaches for HIV testing and related services. This includes applying key elements of the Rapid Testing Quality Improvement Initiative (RTQII), which is commonly used to improve the reliability of rapid HIV testing at the point of care by strengthening standardized procedures, supervision, corrective actions, and ongoing performance monitoring. In practical terms, this part of the award supports the kind of routine quality checks and coaching that reduce testing errors, increase confidence in results, and improve clinical decision-making for treatment initiation and follow-up. Because rapid testing is often the front door to HIV services, improving quality at this level has ripple effects across prevention, treatment, and patient outcomes.

The opportunity also prioritizes building and institutionalizing proficiency testing capacity. Proficiency testing is a core external quality assessment method that helps laboratories and testing sites demonstrate they can produce accurate results by periodically testing blinded samples and comparing results against expected values. Under this FOA, proficiency testing support is specifically tied to high-impact HIV diagnostics and monitoring areas: early infant diagnosis (EID), routine HIV testing, CD4 testing, and viral load testing. Strengthening proficiency testing in these areas helps ensure that infants exposed to HIV are diagnosed correctly and quickly, that treatment eligibility and immune status assessments are dependable, and that viral load monitoring accurately reflects whether treatment is working. Over time, embedding proficiency testing into national systems helps shift quality oversight from ad hoc partner support to sustained government-owned practice.

Another major component is training and mentoring to strengthen the diagnostic workforce, with particular attention to biosafety and equipment maintenance. Biosafety is critical in laboratory settings to protect staff and patients, prevent contamination, and reduce the risk of exposure to infectious materials. Equipment maintenance matters because many testing platforms fail or produce unreliable outputs when calibration, routine servicing, and basic troubleshooting are neglected. This FOA supports building practical skills and habits through hands-on mentoring, not just one-time classroom training, so that laboratory personnel can follow safe practices consistently and keep instruments functioning across different levels of the health system, including more resource-constrained facilities.

The program further supports the development and implementation of Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) to improve data collection, tracking, and management. LIMS investments are intended to reduce common bottlenecks such as missing results, delayed reporting, poor traceability of specimens, and inconsistent data across sites. Stronger laboratory data systems can improve turnaround time for critical test results like viral load and EID, allow better monitoring of testing volumes and performance, and make it easier for program managers and clinicians to act on results. When implemented well, LIMS also strengthens accountability by enabling audits, quality reviews, and real-time performance monitoring across the laboratory network.

Finally, the FOA calls for implementation of a robust sample referral network system. In many settings, advanced tests like viral load and EID are centralized, which means specimens must move reliably from peripheral clinics to higher-tier laboratories, and results must return quickly to the point of care. A strong referral network addresses transport logistics, packaging and biosafety standards, tracking and chain-of-custody, route planning, and coordination between facilities. By improving specimen transport and result return, the referral network directly supports faster clinical action, fewer lost samples, better patient follow-up, and more effective HIV treatment monitoring across PEPFAR-supported districts.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Center for Global Health (CGH), issued as a cooperative agreement, which typically means CDC expects substantial involvement in technical guidance, collaboration, and oversight during implementation. The funding opportunity number is CDC RFA GH17 1719, listed under CFDA 93.067. Eligibility is unrestricted, the original closing date was 2016-10-23, and the opportunity anticipated a single award with an award ceiling of $5,000,000. Overall, the grant is structured to help Cameroon strengthen laboratory systems in a way that supports day-to-day HIV service delivery while also building durable national capacity in quality management, workforce competency, data systems, and specimen transport.

• The Centers for Disease Control - CGH in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Strengthening Public Health Laboratory Systems in the Republic of Cameroon under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.067.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-08-24.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2016-10-23. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $5,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

Apply for CDC RFA GH17 1719

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