I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2144 

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to codify the cooperative 

agreement, known as the Health Technologies program, under which 

the United States Agency for International Development supports the 

development of technologies for global health, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 3, 2011 

Mr. SIRES (for himself, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Ms. MOORE, Mr. HONDA, Mr. 

SMITH of Washington, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. RUSH, Mr. PAYNE, 

and Mr. DICKS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to codify 

the cooperative agreement, known as the Health Technologies program, under which the United States Agency 

for International Development supports the development 

of technologies for 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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) Applied research and development is a crit4 ical component of United States leadership in global 

5 health. Research and innovation can help to break 

6 the cycle of aid dependency by providing sustainable 

7 solutions to long-term problems. Research and devel8 opment for global health is crucial for meeting new 

9 and emerging challenges, creating efficiencies, 

10 strengthening health systems, shifting tasks and 

11 strengthening workforces, and increasing access to 

12 health services for the most vulnerable. Research 

13 suggests that advances in health and medical tech14 nologies have been the major drivers behind massive 

15 improvements in health worldwide over the past cen16 tury, resulting in an average increase in life 

17 expectancies of 21 years in low- and middle-income 

18 countries between 1960 and 2002. 

19 (2) Because of its presence in the field, the 

20 United States Agency for International Development 

21 (USAID) is uniquely placed to assess local health 

22 conditions, then partner with public and private 

23 stakeholders to ensure the development and timely 

24 introduction and scale-up of tools that are culturally 

25 acceptable, address serious and all-too-common 

26 health problems, and contribute to the strengthening 


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1 of health systems. In a recent report to Congress, 

2 USAID calls health research ‘‘integral’’ to its ‘‘abil3 ity to achieve its health and development objectives 

4 worldwide’’ and states that innovation through re5 search allows the agency ‘‘to develop and introduce 

6 affordable health products and practices and con7 tribute to policies appropriate for addressing health8 related concerns in the developing world’’. In 2006, 

9 USAID outlined a five-year health research strategy: 

10 ‘‘Report to Congress: Health-Related Research and 

11 Development Activities at USAID (HRRD), May 

12 2006’’, with a timeline through 2010. 

13 (3) Congress notes the interrelated initiatives 

14 that USAID has taken to advance science, tech15 nology, and innovation for development, including 

16 the Grand Development Challenges, the Innovation 

17 Fund, Development Innovation Ventures, the Devel18 opment Lab, and the Innovation Fellowship. 

19 (4) Applied research and development at 

20 USAID— 

21 (A) facilitates public-private collaboration 

22 in the development of global health tech23 nologies; 

24 (B) leverages public and private sector 

25 support for early stage research and developVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:33 Jun 10, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2144.IH H2144

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1 ment of health technologies to encourage pri2 vate sector investment in late-stage technology 

3 development and product introduction in devel4 oping countries; 

5 (C) benefits the United States economy by 

6 investing in the growing United States global 

7 health technology sector, which— 

8 (i) provides skilled jobs for American 

9 workers; 

10 (ii) creates opportunities for United 

11 States businesses in the development and 

12 production of new technologies; and 

13 (iii) enhances United States competi14 tiveness in the increasingly technological 

15 and knowledge-based global economy; and 

16 (D) enhances United States national secu17 rity by— 

18 (i) reducing the risk of pandemic dis19 ease; and 

20 (ii) contributing to economic develop21 ment and stability in developing countries. 

22 (5) Investments by the United States in afford23 able, appropriate health technologies, such as med24 ical devices for maternal, newborn, and child care; 

25 new vaccines; new vaccine technologies and delivery 


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1 tools; safe injection devices; diagnostic tests for in2 fectious diseases; new tools for water, sanitation, 

3 and nutrition; multipurpose prevention technologies; 

4 information systems and mobile health and informa5 tion systems; and innovative disease prevention 

6 strategies— 

7 (A) reduce the risk of disease transmission; 

8 (B) accelerate access to life-saving global 

9 health interventions for the world’s poor; 

10 (C) reduce the burden on local health sys11 tems; and 

12 (D) have been found by the United States 

13 Government and the World Health Organiza14 tion to result in significant cost savings for de15 velopment assistance funds. 

16 (6) Product development partnerships (PDPs) 

17 are one model that is successfully accelerating re18 search to benefit the developing world. PDPs are 

19 non-profit, nongovernmental entities that work to 

20 accelerate the development of new tools to fight dis21 eases in resource-poor settings. Typically, PDPs 

22 manage resources and partnerships from across pub23 lic, private, and philanthropic sectors to drive the 

24 development of a full pipeline of potential new prod25 ucts that could save and improve lives in the develVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:33 Jun 10, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2144.IH H2144

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1 oping world. USAID has played a significant role in 

2 advancing the PDP model through its financial sup3 port. Over the past decade, the achievements of 

4 PDPs have become increasingly successful at ad5 vancing new products through the development pipe6 line towards registration, product introduction, and 

7 use. 

8 (7) Through a cooperative agreement, known as 

9 the Health Technologies program, USAID supports 

10 the development of technologies that— 

11 (A) maximize the limited resources avail12 able for global health; and 

13 (B) ensure that products and medicines 

14 developed for use in low-resource settings reach 

15 the people that need such products and medi16 cines. 

17 Through the Health Technologies program, 85 tech18 nologies have been invented, designed, developed, or 

19 co-developed, with many of these technologies moved 

20 to global use and billions of units used worldwide. 

21 Over its 25-year history, more than 95 private-sector 

22 collaborators have been involved in the Health Tech23 nologies program, matching USAID dollars two to 

24 one. 


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1 (8) USAID’s translational research is com2 plementary to the work of other agencies: 

3 (A) The Quadrennial Development and Di4 plomacy Review (QDDR) proposes to transition 

5 leadership of the Global Health Initiative (GHI) 

6 to USAID with a target date of the end of 

7 2012. A core principle of the GHI is ‘‘Research 

8 and innovation’’. 

9 (B) The Presidential Policy Directive on 

10 Global Development identifies innovation as 

11 contributing to the resolution of ‘‘long-standing 

12 development challenges’’. 

13 (C) The QDDR affirms that ‘‘US leader14 ship in science and innovation is often linked to 

15 our ability to contribute to a safer, healthier, 

16 and more stable world.’’. 

17 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

18 The purpose of this Act is to codify the cooperative 

19 agreement, known as the Health Technologies program, 

20 in effect as of the date of the enactment of this Act, under 

21 which the United States Agency for International Develop22 ment supports the development of technologies for global 

23 health to— 

24 (1) improve global health; 


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1 (2) reduce maternal, newborn, and child mor2 tality rates; 

3 (3) reverse the incidence of HIV/AIDS, malaria, 

4 tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases; 

5 (4) reduce the burden of chronic diseases; and 

6 (5) support research and development that is 

7 consistent with a global development strategy and 

8 other related strategies developed by USAID. 

9 SEC. 4. CODIFICATION OF HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES PRO10 GRAM. 

11 Section 107 the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 

12 U.S.C. 2151e) is amended by adding at the end the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(c) HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES PROGRAM.—(1) There 

15 is established in the United States Agency for Inter16 national Development (USAID) a health technologies pro17 gram (referred to in this subsection as the ‘program’). 

18 ‘‘(2) The program shall develop, advance, and intro19 duce affordable, available, and appropriate and primarily 

20 late-stage technologies specifically designed to— 

21 ‘‘(A) improve the health and nutrition of popu22 lations in developing countries; 

23 ‘‘(B) reduce maternal, newborn, and child mor24 tality in such countries; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) improve the diagnosis, prevention, and re2 duction of disease, especially HIV/AIDS, malaria, 

3 tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases, in such 

4 countries. 

5 ‘‘(3) The program shall be carried out under a coop6 erative agreement between USAID and one or more insti7 tutions with a successful record of— 

8 ‘‘(A) advancing the technologies described in 

9 paragraph (2); and 

10 ‘‘(B) integrating practical field experience into 

11 the research and development process in order to in12 troduce the most appropriate technologies. 

13 ‘‘(4) The provisions of this subsection codify the coop14 erative agreement, known as the Health Technologies pro15 gram, in effect as of the date of the enactment of this 

16 subsection, under which USAID supports the development 

17 of technologies for global health. The provisions of this 

18 subsection do not establish a new cooperative agreement 

19 or program for such purposes.’’. 

20 SEC. 5. REPORT ON RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AC21 TIVITIES AT USAID. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the United 

23 States Agency for International Development (referred to 

24 in this subsection as ‘‘USAID’’) shall submit to Congress 


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1 an annual report on research and development activities 

2 at USAID. 

3 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The report re4 quired by subsection (b) shall describe— 

5 (1) updates on its strategy for using research 

6 funds to stimulate the development and introduction 

7 of key products; 

8 (2) USAID’s collaborations and coordination 

9 with other Federal departments and agencies in sup10 port of translational and applied global health re11 search and development; 

12 (3) its investments for the fiscal year in science, 

13 technology, and innovation; 

14 (4) how these technologies and research prod15 ucts complement the work being done by other Fed16 eral departments and agencies, if applicable; and 

17 (5) technologies and research products that 

18 have been introduced into field trials or use. 

Æ 


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