Under the American Rescue Plan Act, APHIS is implementing its provision to conduct monitoring and surveillance of susceptible animals for SARS-CoV-2 and enhance our ability to prevent, detect, investigate and control emerging zoonotic diseases using a One Health approach. APHIS is leading efforts to better understand and address SARS-CoV-2 in animals, bringing together our experts on wildlife diseases, livestock, companion, and zoo animals, and partnering with other agencies that protect human and environmental health to take a One Health approach to the global problem of SARS-CoV-2.
Partnerships and leveraging external innovations, tools, and capacity are critical to the success of this program. These funding opportunities under the American Rescue Plan Act will help leverage both prior and new One Health partnerships while working toward the goal of preventing or minimizing the next pandemic.
APHIS will commit up to $24 million for research grants through the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) program.
These grants will support research that directly aligns with APHIS’ American Rescue Plan strategic framework and will provide an expedited method of funding key activities to:
APHIS is currently conducting multiple projects under the American Rescue Plan Act aimed at understanding how the SARS-CoV-2 virus behaves in different animals, how it moves between animals and people, and what we can do to interrupt the chain of transmission. Learn more: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/onehealth/one-health-early-warning-system.