Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA CK 17 003
This funding opportunity, titled "Using Influenza-like Illness-specific School Absenteeism as an Early Warning System for Detecting Community Influenza" (RFA CK 17 003), is a CDC cooperative agreement designed to strengthen public health surveillance by turning school absentee data into a practical early warning signal for influenza activity in the broader community. The central idea is that spikes in students staying home with influenza-like illness (ILI) may appear earlier than other indicators (such as clinic visits or lab-confirmed reports) and could therefore help communities detect and respond to influenza and other respiratory pathogen activity sooner.
The project focuses on further developing and implementing an ILI-specific absentee monitoring system in selected school district(s) serving grades 4K through 12, and then testing how useful that system is for real-world early detection over a four-year period. Rather than treating all absences the same, the effort emphasizes identifying absences that match an ILI definition (typically symptoms like fever plus cough and/or sore throat, depending on the operational definition used in the study). By rapidly determining why students are absent, the system aims to distinguish ordinary absenteeism from illness-related absenteeism in a way that is timely enough to be actionable for public health surveillance.
The work is organized around three major objectives. First, the award supports rapid determination of the causes of school absenteeism among 4K-12 students across participating district(s) over four years, which implies building or refining processes for collecting symptom-specific absence information and producing usable, near-real-time reporting. Second, it includes a household transmission component: when a student is absent due to ILI, the project will look for evidence of influenza spread within that student’s household. This objective is meant to connect school-based signals to what is happening in families, helping clarify how well a school absentee trigger predicts confirmed influenza infections and secondary transmission at home. Third, the project will evaluate how closely ILI-specific absenteeism surveillance aligns with other, complementary influenza surveillance systems centered on the same district. In practice, this means comparing absentee-based signals with multiple layers of established surveillance (for example, laboratory testing, clinical ILI reporting, or other community indicators) to see whether absenteeism trends track, lead, or lag other measures of influenza circulation.
From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity was offered by the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), through ERA, under CFDA 93.084. It is a discretionary award using a cooperative agreement mechanism, which generally indicates substantial federal involvement in coordinating or supporting the project’s activities compared with a standard grant. The award ceiling is $600,000, with an expectation of a single award, suggesting a focused, pilot-to-demonstration style effort rather than a broad multi-site program. The original posting date was November 9, 2016, and the original application due date was March 1, 2017, with electronic submissions due by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the closing date. Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others" with additional eligibility details referenced in the full announcement, implying that the applicant pool may include certain nontraditional entities or specific organization types defined in the complete eligibility language.
Overall, this opportunity is about operationalizing a school-centered, symptom-specific absentee reporting pipeline and rigorously testing whether it can function as an earlier or more sensitive indicator of influenza activity than existing systems. If successful, the approach could provide public health and school partners with faster situational awareness, support earlier community mitigation steps, and improve understanding of how infections move from schools into households and the wider community.Apply for RFA CK 17 003
- The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - ERA in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Using Influenza-like Illness-specific School Absenteeism as an Early Warning System for Detecting Community Influenza" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.084.
- This funding opportunity was created on Nov 09, 2016.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 01, 2017 Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 500 p.m., ET, on the listed application due date.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $600,000.00 in funding.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1) What is the title and identifier of this funding opportunity?
The opportunity is titled "Using Influenza-like Illness-specific School Absenteeism as an Early Warning System for Detecting Community Influenza" and is identified as RFA CK 17 003.
2) Who is offering this award?
The award is offered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
3) What type of funding mechanism is this?
This is a cooperative agreement, which generally indicates substantial federal involvement in coordinating, supporting, or partnering on key project activities compared with a standard grant.
4) What is the CFDA number for this opportunity?
The CFDA number listed for this opportunity is 93.084.
5) Where was the opportunity administered or submitted through?
The opportunity was offered through ERA (as stated in the announcement information provided).
6) What is the overall purpose of the project?
The purpose is to strengthen public health surveillance by turning school absenteeism data into a practical early warning signal for influenza activity in the broader community.
7) What is the main idea behind using school absenteeism for influenza surveillance?
The central idea is that increases in students staying home with influenza-like illness (ILI) may show up earlier than other indicators (such as clinic visits or lab-confirmed reports), potentially allowing earlier detection and response.
8) What does "ILI-specific" absenteeism mean in this project?
Instead of treating all absences the same, the project focuses on identifying absences that match an influenza-like illness definition, typically involving symptoms such as fever plus cough and/or sore throat (depending on the operational definition used in the study).
9) Which grade levels are included?
The project targets school district(s) serving grades 4K through 12.
10) How long is the project period described?
The work is described as taking place over a four-year period.
11) What are the major objectives of the project?
The work is organized around three major objectives: (1) rapid determination of the causes of school absenteeism among 4K-12 students in participating district(s) over four years, (2) a household transmission component to look for evidence of influenza spread within households when a student is absent due to ILI, and (3) evaluation of how closely ILI-specific absenteeism aligns with other influenza surveillance systems centered on the same district.
12) What does "rapid determination of the causes of school absenteeism" involve?
It implies building or refining processes to collect symptom-specific absence information and produce usable, near-real-time reporting so the information is timely enough to be actionable for surveillance.
13) Why does the project include a household transmission component?
The household component is intended to connect school-based signals to what is happening in families, helping clarify how well a school absentee trigger predicts confirmed influenza infections and potential spread to other household members.
14) What happens when a student is absent due to ILI in this study design?
When a student is absent due to ILI, the project will look for evidence of influenza spread within that student's household as part of the household transmission objective.
15) How will the project test whether absentee data works as an early warning system?
The project will evaluate how ILI-specific absenteeism surveillance aligns with other complementary influenza surveillance systems in the same district, comparing whether absenteeism trends track, lead, or lag other measures of influenza circulation.
16) What kinds of other surveillance systems may be used for comparison?
The announcement describes comparisons to multiple layers of established surveillance, giving examples such as laboratory testing, clinical ILI reporting, or other community indicators.
17) Is this intended to be a broad multi-site program?
Based on the expectation of a single award and a defined award ceiling, it is described more like a focused pilot-to-demonstration effort rather than a broad multi-site program.
18) What is the maximum funding amount available?
The award ceiling is $600,000.
19) How many awards are expected?
The opportunity indicates an expectation of a single award.
20) When was the opportunity originally posted?
The original posting date was November 9, 2016.
21) What was the original application due date?
The original application due date was March 1, 2017.
22) What time were electronic submissions due on the closing date?
Electronic submissions were due by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the closing date.
23) Who is eligible to apply?
Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others," with additional eligibility details referenced in the full announcement. This suggests that the specific eligible entity types are defined in the complete eligibility language rather than fully spelled out in the summary information provided here.
24) What does the project aim to produce for public health and school partners?
The stated goal is to operationalize a school-centered, symptom-specific absentee reporting pipeline and rigorously test whether it can provide earlier or more sensitive indication of influenza activity than existing systems, supporting faster situational awareness and earlier community mitigation steps.
25) Is this system meant to treat all student absences the same way?
No. A key feature is distinguishing ordinary absenteeism from illness-related absenteeism by determining whether an absence matches an ILI definition.
26) What is meant by "near-real-time" reporting in this context?
In this context, it refers to collecting and reporting symptom-specific absence information quickly enough that it can be used for actionable public health surveillance rather than only retrospective analysis.
27) What does it mean to evaluate whether absenteeism trends "track, lead, or lag" other measures?
It means assessing whether changes in ILI-specific absenteeism occur at roughly the same time as other surveillance indicators (track), appear earlier (lead), or appear later (lag) relative to other measures of influenza circulation.
28) What is the practical public health value if the approach works?
If successful, the approach could help communities detect and respond to influenza and other respiratory pathogen activity sooner, providing faster situational awareness and improving understanding of how infections may move from schools into households and the wider community.
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