The Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) has announced intentions to award a contract to Stanford University to support biosurveillance and biosecurity activities in Liberia.

The effort specifically focuses on known and novel etiologies of Acute Febrile Illness in rural Liberia. Stanford will perform a range of biosurveillance-oriented activities under the effort, including:

Training, management and supervision of in-country joint Liberian National and Naval Medical Research Unit Three (NAMRU-3) teams
Collection of primary data for epidemiological analysis of the incidence of Acute Febrile Illness
Analysis of data and development of population-based estimates on disease occurrence
Generation of status reports and final analysis products for publication
Liaison activities with local hospital staff at the Kolahun Regional Hospital and the Liberian Institute for Biomedical Research
Integration of Kolahun Regional Hospital into the Acute Febrile Illness project
Assist with preparation and submission of an Institutional Review Board protocol
Define a catchment Area of the population served by the Foya Hospital and disseminated community clinics in Lofa County, Liberia

NAMRU-3 is a U.S. Department of Defense biomedical research laboratory based in Cairo, Egypt. The organization has been working to increase biosurveillance systems and biosecurity across Africa and the Middle East since 1942. NAMRU-3 works closely with the Egyptian Ministry of Health, the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on evaluation of vaccines, therapeutic agents, diagnostic assays, and vector control measures for the region.

The NAMRU-3 mission includes public health activities and capacity building in cooperation with host countries in the region, and the organization was named as a WHO Collaborating Center for Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases in 2001. NAMRU-3 also serves as a WHO reference laboratory for influenza and meningitis in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.