The Indian Health Service (IHS) Office of Public Health Support, Division of Epidemiology and Disease Prevention (DEDP), is accepting applications for cooperative agreement for competitive supplemental funds to enhance activities in the Epidemiology Program for American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) Tribes and Urban Indian communities. This program is authorized under: Section 317(k)(2) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. Section 247b(k)), as amended. Funding for this award will be provided by: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. The authorities will be exercised by CDC and through an Intra-Departmental Delegation of Authority (IDDA) with IHS to create a supplemental funding opportunity for Tribal Epidemiology Centers. The administration will be carried out through an Intra-agency Agreement (IAA) between CDC and IHS. This program is described in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) under 93.231.

The Tribal Epidemiology Center (TEC) program was authorized by Congress in 1998 as a way to provide public health support to multiple Tribes and Urban Indian communities in each of the IHS Areas. Only current TEC grantees are eligible to apply for the competing supplemental funding under this announcement and must demonstrate that they have complied with previous terms and conditions of the TEC program.

TECs are uniquely positioned within Tribes, Tribal and Urban Indian organizations to conduct disease surveillance, research, prevention and control of disease, injury, or disability, and to assess the effectiveness of AI/AN public health programs. Positioned uniquely within Tribes and Tribal or Urban Organizations, TECs are able to conduct disease surveillance, research, prevention and control of disease, injury, or disability. This allows them to assess the effectiveness of AI/AN public health programs. In addition, they can fill gaps in data needed for the relevant Government Performance and Results Act and Healthy People 2020 measures. Some of the existing TECs have already developed innovative strategies to monitor the health status of Tribes and Urban Indian communities, including the development of Tribal health registries and use of sophisticated record linkage computer software to correct existing state data sets for racial misclassification. Tribal Epidemiology Centers work in partnership with IHS DEDP to provide a more accurate national picture of Indian health status. To further the goals of the partnership, a new CDC funding opportunity will be made available to TECs to implement cancer projects in Indian Country, designed to help decrease these disparities and lessen the burden of cancer in this population. For administrative purposes, this new funding opportunity will be packaged with the existing IHS cooperative agreements.