II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1591 

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, to establish the Health 

Technology Program in the United States Agency for International Development to research and develop technologies to improve global health, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 6, 2009 

Mrs. MURRAY (for herself and Mr. DURBIN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, to establish 

the Health Technology Program in the United States 

Agency for International Development to research and 

develop technologies to improve global health, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘21st Century Global 

5 Health Technology Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) The United States has committed to the 

2 United Nations Millennium Development Goals of— 

3 (A) reducing child mortality; 

4 (B) improving maternal health; and 

5 (C) combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and 

6 other diseases. 

7 (2) The goals described in paragraph (1) can8 not be reached without health technologies and de9 vices to diagnose infectious diseases and reduce dis10 ease transmission. 

11 (3) The development, advancement, and intro12 duction of affordable and appropriate technologies 

13 are essential to efforts by the United States to re14 duce deaths among the world’s most vulnerable pop15 ulations, particularly children and women in the de16 veloping world. 

17 (4) A recent report by the Institute of Medicine 

18 on the commitment of the United States to global 

19 health— 

20 (A) recommends that United States insti21 tutions share existing knowledge to address 

22 prevalent health problems in low- and middle23 income countries; 

24 (B) recommends continued support for 

25 partnerships between the public and private secVerDate Nov 24 2008 03:20 Aug 07, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1591.IS S1591

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1 tors to develop and deliver health products in 

2 low- and middle-income countries; and 

3 (C) urges the United States Government to 

4 continue its support for innovative research 

5 models to address unmet health needs in poor 

6 countries. 

7 (5) Investments by the United States in afford8 able, appropriate health technologies, such as med9 ical devices for maternal and child care, vaccine de10 livery tools, safe injection devices, diagnostic tests 

11 for infectious diseases, and innovative disease pre12 vention strategies— 

13 (A) reduce the risk of disease transmission; 

14 and 

15 (B) accelerate access to life-saving global 

16 health interventions for the world’s poor. 

17 (6) Through a cooperative agreement, known as 

18 the Technologies for Health program (referred to in 

19 this section as ‘‘HealthTech’’), USAID supports the 

20 development of technologies that— 

21 (A) maximize the limited resources avail22 able for global health; and 

23 (B) ensure that products and medicines 

24 developed for use in low-resource settings reach 


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1 the people that need such products and medi2 cines. 

3 (7) The HealthTech cooperative agreement— 

4 (A) facilitates public-private collaboration 

5 in the development of global health tech6 nologies; 

7 (B) leverages public sector support for 

8 early stage research and development of health 

9 technologies to encourage private sector invest10 ment in late-stage technology development and 

11 product introduction in developing countries; 

12 (C) benefits the United States economy by 

13 investing in the growing United States global 

14 health technology sector, which— 

15 (i) provides skilled jobs for American 

16 workers; and 

17 (ii) enhances United States competi18 tiveness in the increasingly technological 

19 and knowledge-based global economy; and 

20 (D) enhances United States national secu21 rity by— 

22 (i) reducing the risk of pandemic dis23 ease; and 

24 (ii) contributing to economic develop25 ment and stability in developing countries. 


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1 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

2 The purpose of this Act is to authorize a health tech3 nology development program that supports coordinated, 

4 long-term research and development of appropriate global 

5 health technologies— 

6 (1) to improve global health; 

7 (2) to reduce maternal and child mortality 

8 rates; and 

9 (3) to reverse the incidence of HIV/AIDS, ma10 laria, and other diseases. 

11 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HEALTH TECHNOLOGY 

12 PROGRAM. 

13 Section 107 the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 

14 U.S.C. 2151e) is amended by adding at the end the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(c) HEALTH TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM.—(1) There is 

17 established in the United States Agency for International 

18 Development (referred to in this section as ‘USAID’) the 

19 Health Technology Program, which shall— 

20 ‘‘(A) coordinate and lead research and develop21 ment efforts; 

22 ‘‘(B) be funded by USAID on a competitive 

23 basis; and 

24 ‘‘(C) serve as a national laboratory and tech25 nology development program for global health. 


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1 ‘‘(2) The Health Technology Program shall develop, 

2 advance, and introduce affordable, available, and appro3 priate technologies specifically designed— 

4 ‘‘(A) to improve the health and nutrition of de5 veloping country populations; 

6 ‘‘(B) to reduce maternal and child mortality; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(C) to improve the diagnosis, prevention and 

9 reduction of disease, especially HIV/AIDS, malaria, 

10 tuberculosis, and other major diseases. 

11 ‘‘(3) The Health Technology Program shall be lo12 cated at an institution with a successful record of— 

13 ‘‘(A) advancing the technologies described in 

14 paragraph (2); and 

15 ‘‘(B) integrating practical field experience into 

16 the research and development process in order to in17 troduce the most appropriate technologies. 

18 ‘‘(4) The Administrator of USAID, in collaboration 

19 with the Health Technology Program, shall submit an an20 nual report to Congress and all relevant Federal agencies 

21 that describes— 

22 ‘‘(A) the relevant activities of the Health Tech23 nology Program that are in the incubation phase; 


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1 ‘‘(B) the progress made on such activities and 

2 on other projects carried out through the Health 

3 Technology Program; and 

4 ‘‘(C) the outlook for future health technology 

5 efforts evaluated by the Health Technology Program 

6 to have significant growth potential. 

7 ‘‘(5) There are authorized to be appropriated 

8 $5,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2014 

9 to carry out the Health Technology Program under this 

10 subsection.’’. 

Æ 


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