An Ebola treatment center in Libera.

An Ebola treatment center in Libera. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

CDC To Award $1.8 Million to Fight Ebola

Money will go to nonprofit network of public health organizations in Africa.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will begin awarding a $1.8 million grant next week to a nonprofit network of public health training institutions in Africa to help combat the Ebola outbreak there.

Congress appropriated the funding in the fiscal 2015 continuing resolution that lawmakers passed in September before leaving to campaign for the mid-term elections. CDC is publishing a notice in the Oct. 23 Federal Register soliciting applications from the African Field Epidemiology Network to detail how they will use the money to respond to the latest Ebola outbreak, which so far has killed more than 4,500 people. Applicants must justify how they will use the funding for activities related to fighting Ebola from Oct. 31, 2014, through Sept. 29, 2015.

AFEN “is a not-for-profit organization which works closely with Ministries of Health in member countries to develop sustainable programs and capacity to strengthen field epidemiology and ensure healthier lives for Africans,” according to its website.

CDC plans to award the grant on Oct. 30 and recipients can use the money through Sept. 14, 2015.

According to the notice, the funding will target efforts to fight Ebola in countries including Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, as well as other West African nations.

“This funding will enable the U.S. to provide unified mobilization to address a crisis of this magnitude,” the notice stated.