I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1515 
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 
APRIL 11, 2013 
Mr. SIRES (for himself and Mr. DIAZ-BALART) 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 Tech-
nologies program, under which the United States Agency 
for International Development supports the development 
of technologies for global health, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘21st Century Global 
Health Technology Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
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(1) Research and development is a critical com-
ponent of United States leadership in global health. 
Research and innovation can help to break the cycle 
of aid dependency by providing sustainable solutions 
to long-term problems. Research and development 
for global health is crucial for meeting new and 
emerging challenges, creating efficiencies, strength-
ening health systems, shifting tasks and strength-
ening workforces, and increasing access to health 
services for the most vulnerable. Research suggests 
that advances in health and medical technologies 
have been the major drivers behind massive improve-
ments in health worldwide over the past century, re-
sulting in an average increase in life expectancies of 
21 years in low- and middle-income countries be-
tween 1960 and 2002. Additionally, new health tech-
nologies have a high return on investment. For ex-
ample, it is estimated that a new meningitis A vac-
cine developed in collaboration with the United 
States 
Agency 
for 
International 
Development 
(USAID), the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health 
(NIH), and the Food and Drug Administration 
(FDA), will save $570,000,000 over the next decade 
in costs that would otherwise be incurred for emer-
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gency vaccination campaigns, freeing much needed 
resources for use elsewhere in overstretched health 
systems. 
(2) Five Federal agencies—NIH, USAID, the 
Department of Defense, CDC, and FDA—provide 
significant contributions each year to global health 
research and development. The United States Gov-
ernment is supporting the development of 200—55 
percent—of the 365 products in the global pipeline 
of products for neglected and poverty-related dis-
eases. 
(3) This commitment from the United States 
Government and its Federal agencies has led to a re-
markable increase in global health products. Forty- 
five new health tools were registered between 2000 
and 2010, and the United States Government was 
involved in 24, or 53 percent, of these new global 
health products in the last decade including 6 drugs 
for malaria, 2 vaccines for pneumonia, 6 diagnostics 
for tuberculosis, and 2 drugs for leishmaniasis. 
(4) United States investments have enabled tre-
mendous progress in the introduction of new tech-
nologies for global health; however, gaps exist in 
bringing certain technologies through the develop-
ment process and rapidly scaling them up in the 
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field. Better coordination is needed between Federal 
agencies to align research strategies, identify and 
address gaps in product development activity and 
move products efficiently along the research-to-intro-
duction continuum. 
(5) Infectious diseases disproportionately im-
pact populations in low-income nations across Latin 
America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia. However, 
even in the United States, poor and vulnerable com-
munities are at much greater risk for contracting 
diseases usually considered to be diseases of the de-
veloping world. For example, cases of Chagas dis-
ease, which is found throughout Latin America, and 
dengue fever, endemic to Mexico and Central Amer-
ica, have been detected in southern States along the 
United States border with Mexico, in communities 
where poverty rates are high. 
(6) In collaboration with the World Health Or-
ganization (WHO) and its member states, the 
United States is a leading participant in discussions 
to improve coordination and financing of global 
health research and development. This process will 
establish mechanisms to map research needs, iden-
tify resource gaps, and set priorities to ensure that 
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the most crucial global health products are developed 
and delivered for maximum global health impact. 
(7) Because of its presence in the field, USAID 
is uniquely placed to assess local health conditions, 
then partner with public and private stakeholders to 
ensure the development and timely introduction and 
scale-up of tools that are culturally acceptable, ad-
dress serious and all-too-common health problems, 
and contribute to the strengthening of health sys-
tems. In a recent report to Congress, USAID calls 
health research ‘‘integral’’ to its ‘‘ability to achieve 
its health and development objectives worldwide’’ 
and states that innovation through research allows 
the agency ‘‘to develop and introduce affordable 
health products and practices and contribute to poli-
cies appropriate for addressing health-related con-
cerns in the developing world’’. The elevation of the 
Office of Science and Technology would assist 
USAID in achieving its global health and develop-
ment goals. In 2011, USAID outlined a 5-year 
health research strategy: ‘‘Report to Congress: 
Health-Related Research and Development Activities 
at USAID (HRRD), May 2011’’, with a timeline 
through 2010. This strategy is an important source 
of information on USAID’s programs for global 
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health product development and is an effective tool 
for measuring expected results from 2011 through 
2015. The strategy does not articulate USAID’s in-
vestments and programming for research and devel-
opment in several critical areas such as— 
(A) new tools to diagnose, prevent and 
treat neglected tropical diseases; 
(B) biomedical products, technologies and 
devices for conditions and diseases impacting 
maternal health, newborns, and children, in-
cluding research for vaccines for the leading 
causes of death in children; and 
(C) new tuberculosis vaccines. 
(8) Congress notes the interrelated initiatives 
that USAID has taken to advance science, tech-
nology, and innovation for development, including 
the Grand Development Challenges, the Innovation 
Fund, Higher Education Science Network, the De-
velopment Lab, and the Innovation Fellowship. 
(9) Research and development at USAID— 
(A) facilitates public-private collaboration 
in the development of global health tech-
nologies; 
(B) leverages public and private sector 
support for early stage research and develop-
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ment of health technologies to encourage pri-
vate sector investment in late-stage technology 
development and product introduction in devel-
oping countries; 
(C) benefits the United States economy by 
investing in the growing United States global 
health technology sector, which— 
(i) provides skilled jobs for American 
workers for example, 64 cents of every 
United States dollar invested in global 
health research benefits United States- 
based researchers; 
(ii) creates opportunities for United 
States businesses in the development and 
production of new technologies; and 
(iii) enhances United States competi-
tiveness in the increasingly technological 
and knowledge-based global economy; and 
(D) enhances United States national secu-
rity by— 
(i) reducing the risk of pandemic dis-
ease; and 
(ii) contributing to economic develop-
ment and stability in developing countries. 
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