38214 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 129 / Thursday, July 3, 2008 / Notices 

FEDERAL MARITIME COMMISSION 

Meetings; Sunshine Act 

AGENCY HOLDING THE MEETING: Federal 

Maritime Commission. 

TIME AND DATE: July 9, 2008—10 a.m. 

PLACE: 800 North Capitol Street, NW., 

First Floor Hearing Room, Washington, 

DC. 

STATUS: Closed Session. 

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: 

Closed Session 

(1) Export Cargo Issues Status Report. 

(2) Internal Administrative Practices 

and Personnel Matters. 

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: 

Karen V. Gregory, Assistant Secretary, 

(202) 523–5725. 

Karen V. Gregory, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 08–1414 Filed 7–1–08; 3:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 6730–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Training of Latin American Health-Care 

Workers Through the Gorgas Memorial 

Institute, Republic of Panama 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Office 

of the Assistant Secretary for 

Preparedness and Response. 

ACTION: Notice. 

Funding Opportunity Title: Training 

of Latin American Health-Care Workers 

through the Gorgas Memorial Institute, 

Republic of Panama. 

Announcement Type: Single-Source, 

Cooperative Agreement. 

Funding Opportunity Number: Not 

applicable. 

Catalog of Federal Domestic 

Assistance Number: 93.019. 

DATES: To receive consideration, 

applications must be received by the 

Office of Grants Management within the 

Office of Public Health and Science 

(OPHS) of the Department of Health and 

Human Services (HHS) no later than 

August 4, 2008. HHS will consider 

applications as meeting the deadline if 

the HHS/OPHS Office of Grants 

Management (c/o Grant Application 

Center, 1515 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 

100, Arlington, VA 22209), receives 

them no later than 5 p.m., Eastern Time, 

on the application due date. HHS will 

accept applications electronically 

submitted through GrantSolutions.gov 

or Grants.Gov until 11 p.m., Eastern 

Time, on this date. HHS will not accept 

applications by fax, nor will HHS 

extend the submission deadline. The 

application due date requirement 

specified in this announcement 

supersedes the instructions in the 

OPHS–1. HHS will return to the 

applicant, unread, applications that do 

not meet the deadline. See heading 

‘‘Application and Submission 

Information’’ for information on 

mechanisms to submit applications. 

SUMMARY: This project will support the 

Gorgas Memorial Institute (GMI) to: (a) 

Develop a regional training center in 

Panama and (b) train community health 

workers, clinicians (physicians, nurses, 

and auxiliary medical workers) and 

select public-health professionals from 

Central and South America (i.e., Latin 

America), (c) facilitate partnerships 

between U.S. universities and their 

Latin American counterparts to develop 

human resources for health in Latin 

America, and (d) harness the energies of 

U.S. and other non-governmental 

organizations by partnering with them 

to advance community health-training 

and program efforts in Latin America. 

These efforts will help engage 

significantly more areas of these 

countries to prepare for and respond to 

public-health emergencies, such as 

pandemic influenza, and they will 

contribute to the improved and 

expanded provision of prevention and 

primary health care. This training of 

nurses, community health workers and 

physicians will focus on improving and 

expanding coverage and access to both 

public-health emergency care and 

preventive and primary health care in 

underserved parts of Latin America (i.e., 

both underserved rural and poor urban 

communities). A result of this project, 

the health-care work force in Central 

America should be better prepared to 

respond to public-health emergencies, 

including pandemic influenza. Key to 

the selection of recipients for this 

training will be their availability and 

willingness to provide their health and 

medical care skills in underserved areas 

within the region, especially rural and 

indigenous communities and those 

visited by U.S. Government 

humanitarian missions in the past year. 

In addition to all appropriate subjects in 

the fields of medical care and health 

education or communication, training 

supported by this project will 

emphasize infectious diseases, 

epidemiology, disease surveillance and 

outbreak response, so graduates of 

training programs will be prepared to 

play contributing roles in any pandemic 

preparation and response. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: While a 

number of Central and South American 

and Caribbean countries have made 

significant strides towards improving 

the quality of health care for their 

citizens, and extending that care into 

underserved areas, a number of 

countries and regions still suffer from a 

shortage of appropriately trained healthcare workers and clinicians. Though all 

levels of medical care (primary, 

secondary and tertiary) warrant further 

investment and effort to meet the 

present and growing need in Latin 

America and the Caribbean for medical 

care, this need is perhaps most acute 

among rural, indigenous and 

disadvantaged urban communities, 

where essential public health, 

prevention and primary care are absent 

or sparse. From a public-health 

perspective, focusing public investment 

on basic and essential primary care 

results in a maximization of benefits for 

the greatest number of people. 

Compounding the pre-existing and 

wide ranging needs for basic 

community, preventive and primary 

health care in this region are new 

threats from emerging infectious 

diseases that are looming on the 

horizon. The H5N1 strain of avian flu 

has become the most threatening 

influenza virus in the world that could 

cause a pandemic, and any large-scale 

outbreak of this disease among humans 

would have grave consequences for 

global public health, including in Latin 

America. Influenza experts have warned 

that the re-assortment of different 

influenza viruses could greatly increase 

the potential for the viruses to transmit 

more easily from person to person. 

Medical practitioners have also 

discovered several other, new avian 

viruses transmissible to humans. In the 

fight against avian and pandemic 

influenza, early detection and response 

is the first line of defense, and greater 

numbers of appropriately trained 

community and clinical health-care 

workers would play a vital role in 

helping respond to such public-health 

emergencies. 

No funds provided under this 

cooperative agreement may support any 

activity that duplicates another activity 

supported by any component of HHS. 

Funds provided under this cooperative 

agreement may not supplant funding 

provided by other sources. Grantees 

must coordinate all funded activities 

with the HHS Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Preparedness and 

Response (ASPR) and the Office of 

Global Health Affairs. 

I. Funding Opportunity Description 

Authority: 

Section 307(a) and (b) of the PHS Act 

(42 U.S.C. 242l); 

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