A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted, in the beginning of December, a training on the Management of Cooperation Agreements with the United States Government, in the Prédio da Expansão [Expansion Building], organized by Fiotec. The objective was to strengthen and enhance the management of the activities of current and future projects linked to the body. It was an important opportunity to clarify questions which will facilitate the management of the activities developed in partnership with the CDC.
The course was offered at no cost and held in English by a specialist from the Atlanta CDC, the Officer for the Management of Cooperation Agreements, Randolph Williams, with simultaneous translation into Portuguese. Among the topics covered, the highlights were the procedures to participate in new financing opportunities with the CDC, a request for an extension of the term, the auditing of the agreements, several aspects of the management of cooperation agreements, including contractual, administrative, financial, and technical aspects, and the analysis of important points in the manual "PGO Grantee Resource Toolkit CDC".
In addition to the Fiotec International Projects team, representatives of the Ministry of Health, of the Fundação Universitária José Bonifácio [José Bonifácio University Foundation], of the Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro [Rio de Janeiro State University] (UERJ) have participated in the training, as well as representatives of three Fiocruz units: The Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sergio Arouca (Ensp), the Instituto de Pesquisa Evandro Chagas (Ipec), and the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC).
Other activities
In addition to monitoring the project "Strengthening the National Program to Fight AIDS", which has been managed by Fiotec for nine years, the CDC team took the opportunity to introduce Richard Respess, the new person responsible for the CDC in Latin America and the Caribbean and for the Division of Global HIV/AIDS. They met with the executive officer at Fiotec, Maurício Zuma Medeiros, general manager, Adilson Gomes dos Santos, Special Projects manager, Mabel Melo, and coordinator of International Projects, Flavia Estill.
The Project
Two governmental health agencies - CDC (United States) and Fiocruz (Brazil) have signed a Cooperation Agreement with the objective of mitigating social and economic impacts of endemic diseases that affect urban populations and economically active population groups. The project "Strengthening the Brazilian AIDS Program and South-South Cooperation with the Republic of Brazil within the Presidential Emergency Plan for the mitigation of AIDS" was, then, implemented.
Although the Brazilian experience in the control of the disease is recognized as an example for the world, major weaknesses in the Brazilian model have been identified, particularly regarding the evaluation of the DST-AIDS National Program. Although the Ministry of Health is working to institutionalize monitoring and evaluation, there is still much to be done.
One of the sub-projects integrated within the project is the Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP), which aims to strengthen the Death Verification Service in Palmas, Tocantins and the monitoring of potentially pandemic human zoonoses in Colider and Peixoto de Azevedo in Mato Grosso.
Through the Malaria Program, which is also included in the cooperation agreement, the objective is to develop the evaluation plan of mosquito nets treated with insecticide (ITN) and carry out an evaluation of the monitoring of HRP2 and HRP3 - types of antigens - expressed in the Plasmodium falciparum parasites. Next year, tuberculosis-related activities will also be included in the project.
