Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is celebrating the announcement of a $3,425,012 federal grant from the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) for American Samoa.

The grant, part of the CDC’s Strengthening US Public Health Infrastructure, Workforce, and Data Systems program, ensures that public health departments across the country have the people, services, and systems they need to protect and promote public health.

These flexible funds from the grant will support departments like AS Department of Public Health (ASDoH) and will last five years.

“Public health efforts are the cornerstone of a healthy community,” said Amata. “This grant gives our community even more resources to hire people, improve services, and deploy systems that will ensure our public health efforts reach more people and save more lives.”

“I congratulate Governor Lemanu, Lt. Governor Talauega, ASDoH Director Motusa, and all the other hardworking people whose efforts led to this grant,” she concluded. “I also thank the CDC and Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky for all their support for the territory.”

In their national announcement, the CDC highlighted a core focus of listening to jurisdictions and partners to ensure the funding was tailored to meet their actual diverse needs.

These grants help to address urgent and ongoing public health needs in communities that are economically or socially marginalized, rural communities, and communities with people from racial and ethnic minority groups.

The grant is also a critical new tool for the CDC to provide direct support to public health agencies, deliver future resources for modernizing data systems, and meet the fundamental public health needs of American communities.

The stronger infrastructure allows public health departments to ensure food and water safety, detect and track diseases, stop outbreaks, provide child and maternal healthcare, and monitor data. Continued investments will strengthen our national public health workforce and infrastructure, to better support a public health system that is prepared to respond to any future health threat. More information is available at www.cdc.gov/infrastructure/.