USAID Awards $125 Million "Health Systems 20/20" Cooperative Agreement to Abt Associates
Cambridge Mass., September 7, 2006 — Abt Associates announced today that it has been awarded a 5-year cooperative agreement up to $125 million by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). "Health Systems 20/20" (HS20/20) will give USAID-supported countries access to technical assistance from Abt Associates and its partner organizations as they work toward creating sustainable capacity in the health sector. The award is a follow-on to the $98 million USAID "Partners for Health Reformplus" project, also led by Abt Associates, that worked on health system strengthening in 35 countries.
The USAID Cognizant Technical Officer for HS20/20 Karen Cavanaugh explained that the agreement offers customized solutions to the special health system challenges in rebuilding states. "It will bring to bear on the health system state-of-the-art understanding of accountability and transparency with a view toward increasing knowledge and best practice on governance in health," she said.
The company will implement the project with a team of partners that includes the Aga Khan Foundation, BearingPoint Emerging Markets Group, Bitrán y Asociados (Chile), BRAC University (Bangladesh), Broad Branch Associates, Forum One Communications and Research Triangle Institute. Health Systems 20/20 has also engaged the services of regional affiliates such as the Curatio Foundation in Eastern Europe, University of Cape Town in South Africa, and Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Tulane, and Columbia universities' schools of public health.
Abt Associates Managing Vice President for International Health, George Laudato, noted that the award "reflects our staff's ability to manage complex, large-scale programs worldwide such as PHRplus and the Private Sector Partnerships (PSP) projects." Laudato thanked Abt Associates' partners for their contributions, in particular BearingPoint and Research Triangle Institute (RTI).
HS20/20 will focus on governance and operations in the health sector as well as on health systems strengthening, health policy, management, and health financing. HS20/20 will give specific attention to the crosscutting issues of building capacity in the countries served and the long-term sustainability of the system strengthening initiatives that it supports. It will build on the close working relationships established by PHRplus and other Abt Associates projects with local non-governmental organizations and government institutions, other USAID cooperating agencies, and donor organizations.
Abt Associates, a private, employee-owned company, applies scientific research and technical assistance expertise to a wide range of social, economic, and technological policy issues; international development; clinical trials and registries; and complex business problems. Founded in 1965, Abt Associates provides services to U.S. federal, state, and local governments; foreign governments; international organizations; foundations; and business and industry. Its staff of over 1,000 is located in offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Bethesda, Maryland; Chicago, Illinois; and overseas in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.
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