[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2144 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2144

 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

                              June 3, 2011

  Mr. Sires (for himself, Mr. Diaz-Balart, Ms. Moore, Mr. Honda, Mr. 
 Smith of Washington, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Rush, Mr. Payne, and 
  Mr. Dicks) 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 Technologies 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 Representatives 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:
            (1) Applied research and development is a critical 
        component 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, 
        strengthening health systems, shifting tasks and strengthening 
        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 
        improvements in health worldwide over the past century, 
        resulting in an average increase in life expectancies of 21 
        years in low- and middle-income countries between 1960 and 
        2002.
            (2) Because of its presence in the field, the United States 
        Agency for International Development (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, address serious and all-too-common health problems, 
        and contribute to the strengthening of health systems. 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 
        policies appropriate for addressing health-related concerns in 
        the developing world''. In 2006, USAID outlined a five-year 
        health research strategy: ``Report to Congress: Health-Related 
        Research and Development Activities at USAID (HRRD), May 
        2006'', with a timeline through 2010.
            (3) Congress notes the interrelated initiatives that USAID 
        has taken to advance science, technology, and innovation for 
        development, including the Grand Development Challenges, the 
        Innovation Fund, Development Innovation Ventures, the 
        Development Lab, and the Innovation Fellowship.
            (4) Applied research and development at USAID--
                    (A) facilitates public-private collaboration in the 
                development of global health technologies;
                    (B) leverages public and private sector support for 
                early stage research and development of health 
                technologies to encourage private sector investment in 
                late-stage technology development and product 
                introduction in developing 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;
                            (ii) creates opportunities for United 
                        States businesses in the development and 
                        production of new technologies; and
                            (iii) enhances United States 
                        competitiveness in the increasingly 
                        technological and knowledge-based global 
                        economy; and
                    (D) enhances United States national security by--
                            (i) reducing the risk of pandemic disease; 
                        and
                            (ii) contributing to economic development 
                        and stability in developing countries.
            (5) Investments by the United States in affordable, 
        appropriate health technologies, such as medical devices for 
        maternal, newborn, and child care; new vaccines; new vaccine 
        technologies and delivery tools; safe injection devices; 
        diagnostic tests for infectious diseases; new tools for water, 
        sanitation, and nutrition; multipurpose prevention 
        technologies; information systems and mobile health and 
        information systems; and innovative disease prevention 
        strategies--
                    (A) reduce the risk of disease transmission;
                    (B) accelerate access to life-saving global health 
                interventions for the world's poor;
                    (C) reduce the burden on local health systems; and
                    (D) have been found by the United States Government 
                and the World Health Organization to result in 
                significant cost savings for development assistance 
                funds.
            (6) Product development partnerships (PDPs) are one model 
        that is successfully accelerating research to benefit the 
        developing world. PDPs are non-profit, nongovernmental entities 
        that work to accelerate the development of new tools to fight 
        diseases in resource-poor settings. Typically, PDPs manage 
        resources and partnerships from across public, private, and 
        philanthropic sectors to drive the development of a full 
        pipeline of potential new products that could save and improve 
        lives in the developing world. USAID has played a significant 
        role in advancing the PDP model through its financial support. 
        Over the past decade, the achievements of PDPs have become 
        increasingly successful at advancing new products through the 
        development pipeline towards registration, product 
        introduction, and use.
            (7) Through a cooperative agreement, known as the Health 
        Technologies program, USAID supports the development of 
        technologies that--
                    (A) maximize the limited resources available for 
                global health; and
                    (B) ensure that products and medicines developed 
                for use in low-resource settings reach the people that 
                need such products and medicines.
        Through the Health Technologies program, 85 technologies have 
        been invented, designed, developed, or co-developed, with many 
        of these technologies moved to global use and billions of units 
        used worldwide. Over its 25-year history, more than 95 private-
        sector collaborators have been involved in the Health 
        Technologies program, matching USAID dollars two to one.
            (8) USAID's translational research is complementary to the 
        work of other agencies:
                    (A) The Quadrennial Development and Diplomacy 
                Review (QDDR) proposes to transition leadership of the 
                Global Health Initiative (GHI) to USAID with a target 
                date of the end of 2012. A core principle of the GHI is 
                ``Research and innovation''.
                    (B) The Presidential Policy Directive on Global 
                Development identifies innovation as contributing to 
                the resolution of ``long-standing development 
                challenges''.
                    (C) The QDDR affirms that ``US leadership in 
                science and innovation is often linked to our ability 
                to contribute to a safer, healthier, and more stable 
                world.''.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    The purpose of this Act is to codify the cooperative agreement, 
known as the Health Technologies program, in effect as of the date of 
the enactment of this Act, under which the United States Agency for 
International Development supports the development of technologies for 
global health to--
            (1) improve global health;
            (2) reduce maternal, newborn, and child mortality rates;
            (3) reverse the incidence of HIV/AIDS, malaria, 
        tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases;
            (4) reduce the burden of chronic diseases; and
            (5) support research and development that is consistent 
        with a global development strategy and other related strategies 
        developed by USAID.

SEC. 4. CODIFICATION OF HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES PROGRAM.

    Section 107 the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151e) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) Health Technologies Program.--(1) There is established in the 
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) a health 
technologies program (referred to in this subsection as the `program').
    ``(2) The program shall develop, advance, and introduce affordable, 
available, and appropriate and primarily late-stage technologies 
specifically designed to--
            ``(A) improve the health and nutrition of populations in 
        developing countries;
            ``(B) reduce maternal, newborn, and child mortality in such 
        countries; and
            ``(C) improve the diagnosis, prevention, and reduction of 
        disease, especially HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other 
        infectious diseases, in such countries.
    ``(3) The program shall be carried out under a cooperative 
agreement between USAID and one or more institutions with a successful 
record of--
            ``(A) advancing the technologies described in paragraph 
        (2); and
            ``(B) integrating practical field experience into the 
        research and development process in order to introduce the most 
        appropriate technologies.
    ``(4) The provisions of this subsection codify the cooperative 
agreement, known as the Health Technologies program, in effect as of 
the date of the enactment of this subsection, under which USAID 
supports the development of technologies for global health. The 
provisions of this subsection do not establish a new cooperative 
agreement or program for such purposes.''.

SEC. 5. REPORT ON RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES AT USAID.

    (a) In General.--The Administrator of the United States Agency for 
International Development (referred to in this subsection as ``USAID'') 
shall submit to Congress an annual report on research and development 
activities at USAID.
    (b) Matters To Be Included.--The report required by subsection (b) 
shall describe--
            (1) updates on its strategy for using research funds to 
        stimulate the development and introduction of key products;
            (2) USAID's collaborations and coordination with other 
        Federal departments and agencies in support of translational 
        and applied global health research and development;
            (3) its investments for the fiscal year in science, 
        technology, and innovation;
            (4) how these technologies and research products complement 
        the work being done by other Federal departments and agencies, 
        if applicable; and
            (5) technologies and research products that have been 
        introduced into field trials or use.
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