Americom Government Services (AGS), a subsidiary of SES Americom, announced Oct. 5 it received a five-year contract to support the Center For Disease Control and Prevention‘s (CDC) Global Disease Detection Initiative. The program is designed to recognize infectious disease outbreaks faster and improve the overall ability to control and prevent such health risks.

The initiative connects doctors and researchers around the world, and AGS will provide satellite communications services to link 16 locations in Africa and the Caribbean and streamline CDC communications, which currently are carried over disparate networks.

AGS will be provisioning the voice, data and video conferencing services for the network using transponders on SES Americom’s AMC-12 and AMC-6 satellites.