The Task Force is a partner on a $6.8-million grant awarded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide assistance with the agency’s global Zika response strategy.

Over the next year, TEPHINET, The Task Force’s field epidemiology training program, and CDC will collaborate on 13 Zika-related projects across Latin America and the Caribbean focusing on increasing the region’s capacity to address the outbreak. They include projects focused on increased surveillance and strengthened public health laboratory systems.

CDC’s grant supports a number of national public health partners to provide assistance to state, tribal, local, and territorial jurisdictions with their Zika responses. In September, The Task Force hosted a meeting of CDC grantees supported by the new grant.

Photo caption: Zika virus is transmitted to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito, pictured above.