Cooperative Agreement Award Summary

Lifestock, Inc., a woman-owned nonprofit organization, received a $215,769 Cooperative Agreement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) under the Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care program (CFDA 10.025). The award, dated May 8, 2026, with completion targeted for November 7, 2027, supports capacity-building initiatives in Mongolia focused on detecting and diagnosing high-consequence transboundary animal diseases.

The cooperative agreement will deliver three key phases of technical assistance and laboratory infrastructure development. Phase 1 involves building detection capacity at regional and provincial laboratories to rapidly identify Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) virus and Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) virus, while evaluating livestock vaccination efficiency. Phase 2 focuses on establishing proficiency testing capabilities at Mongolia's State Central Veterinary Laboratory to ISO 17043 standards, positioning it as the country's reference laboratory. Phase 3 will provide genetic characterization of FMD and PPR viruses circulating in Mongolia to support strain diversity analysis and disease epidemiology understanding. The project addresses critical biosecurity gaps given Mongolia's strategic location along China's border and endemic transboundary disease threats, ultimately enhancing Mongolia's quality serology testing capacity and transboundary disease surveillance capabilities.