Surveillance, intervention, and referral to services activities for infants with microcephaly or other adverse outcomes linked with the Zika virus | CDC RFA DD17 1702

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA DD17 1702

The grant opportunity titled "Surveillance, intervention, and referral to services activities for infants with microcephaly or other adverse outcomes linked with the Zika virus" (CDC-RFA-DD17-1702) is a CDC cooperative agreement focused on strengthening public health surveillance and service coordination related to birth defects and developmental outcomes potentially associated with Zika virus infection during pregnancy. It is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, specifically the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD), and it is positioned as a non-research initiative intended to support rapid, real-world public health action rather than traditional academic research.

The core purpose of the funding is to help jurisdictions establish, enhance, and maintain rapid, population-based surveillance systems to identify infants with microcephaly and other adverse outcomes, with a particular emphasis on central nervous system (CNS) defects that could be linked to congenital Zika exposure. A key feature of the approach is active case-finding, meaning funded programs are expected to proactively search for and confirm cases through systematic outreach to reporting sources (such as hospitals, clinics, and other clinical or administrative data systems) rather than waiting for passive reports to arrive. The overall aim is timely and accurate identification of affected infants so that the information can be used immediately for monitoring trends, guiding prevention strategies, and supporting intervention planning.

In addition to building surveillance capacity, the announcement highlights participation in centralized pooled clinical and surveillance data projects. This reflects CDCs intention to aggregate information across multiple jurisdictions to improve understanding of the range of outcomes, strengthen data quality and comparability, and support coordinated situational awareness at the national level. By contributing standardized clinical and surveillance information, awardees help create a broader picture of how Zika-related outcomes present across different settings, which can inform public health messaging and resource allocation.

Another major expectation is ensuring that identified infants and their families are connected to appropriate services. The grant emphasizes referral to services as a required public health function alongside case detection, recognizing that families may need early intervention, developmental evaluation, specialty clinical care, social supports, and long-term follow-up. The program is designed so that surveillance does not end with counting cases; instead, surveillance data should trigger action, including outreach and referral pathways that connect families to needed supports as early as possible.

The opportunity also calls for assessing health and developmental outcomes of children affected by these conditions. That means awardees are expected not only to identify and record initial diagnoses but also to support mechanisms for tracking outcomes over time, which can include monitoring developmental progress and health complications as children grow. This longitudinal emphasis helps public health agencies and partners understand service needs, plan interventions, and evaluate whether referrals and early supports are reaching children in a timely way.

The funding is limited to ten eligible or previously non-responsive jurisdictions associated with an earlier related CDC opportunity (CDC-RFA-DD16-1605). In other words, it is not broadly open to all applicants; it is targeted to a defined set of jurisdictions that CDC identified as eligible under the earlier funding framework. The award mechanism is a cooperative agreement, which generally indicates substantial CDC involvement in program implementation, guidance, or coordination, such as aligning methods, supporting consistent data standards, and facilitating pooled data efforts.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary grant with a health-focused activity category and CFDA number 93.073. The opportunity was created on December 23, 2016, with an original application deadline of January 26, 2017, and electronic submissions were due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the deadline date. The expected number of awards was 10, with an award ceiling of $200,000 per award for the FY2017 funding described.

Overall, the opportunity is meant to strengthen birth defects surveillance infrastructure during the Zika response by combining rapid identification of potentially Zika-associated outcomes with coordinated data sharing and direct public health follow-through for affected families. It explicitly aligns with NCBDDDs performance goal to enhance birth defects surveillance, research, and prevention, while clarifying that the funded work itself is non-research public health practice: rapid active population-based ascertainment of select major birth defects and using those data for monitoring, prevention, and intervention activities.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control - NCBDDD in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Surveillance, intervention, and referral to services activities for infants with microcephaly or other adverse outcomes linked with the Zika virus" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.073.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 23, 2016.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jan 26, 2017 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.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $200,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for CDC RFA DD17 1702

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