The National Syndromic Surveillance Program: Enhancing Syndromic Surveillance Capacity and Practice

The mission of the National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP) is to promote the use of high quality syndromic surveillance data for improved nation-wide all-hazard situational awareness for public health decision-making and enhanced responses to hazardous events, and outbreaks. The purpose of this funding opportunity is to assist state and local public health authorities to implement syndromic surveillance to enhance situation awareness and detect and characterize disease outbreaks or other hazardous events or conditions of public health concern in order to respond quickly to local threats....

Eligibility is limited to the following: 1) A single state or local health department representing a population equal to or greater than 1 million people as estimated by the U.S. Census (2013 estimate). 2) A collaborating group of state or local health departments (e.g.; MSAs, group of states, multiple counties, etc.) representing an area with a total combined population equal to or greater than 1 million people as estimated by the U.S. Census (2013 estimate) or the District of Columbia Department of Health. 3) A singel state health department representing a population less than 1 million people as estimated by the U.S. Census (2013 estimate) and/or the District of Columbia Department of Health. All applicants must have demonstrated capacity to conduct syndromic surveillance and must be able and willing to sign the cloud steward's, currently the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), Data Use Agreement (DUA) within 6 months of award. Applicants that have current DUAs with the cloud steward, currently the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), are required to submit a copy of their DUA with the request for funding. Applicants that do not have a current DUA with the cloud steward are required to submit a letter signed by the health officer committing to signing the DUA within the first six months of funding. DUAs signed by applicants are necessary to ensure they'll be able to share data in the cloud to promote the mission of the national Syndromic Surveillance program: use of high quality syndromic surveeillance data for improved nationwide all hazard situational awareness for public health decision-making and enhanced responses to hazardous events, and outbreaks - which cross geo-political boundaries.

Philip Baptiste pmb2@cdc.gov