The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has awarded $492,370 to Georgia to conduct state and local planning and kick off community involvement for the proposed federal initiative, Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America, which seeks to reduce new HIV infections in America by 90% by 2030. The funding includes two parts:
Accelerating State and Local HIV Planning
$12 million of the HHS Minority HIV/AIDS Fund has been awarded to 32 CDC-funded state and local health departments to develop comprehensive Ending the HIV Epidemic plans that are tailored by and for each community. These local plans will be unique to each area because the HIV epidemic affects communities differently. Plans will be based upon a national framework that identified the highest-impact HIV prevention, care, treatment, and outbreak response strategies. This one-time funding has been awarded to health departments that represent the 57 geographic areas that have been prioritized for the first year of the initiative.
National Capacity-Building
The National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) has been awarded $1.5 million per year from 2019 to 2023, based on the availability of resources, to enhance local health departments’ capacity to end the epidemic in the 57 geographic areas. This effort, which uses CDC HIV prevention funds, will also support strategic communication and policy activities, partnerships, data analyses, and technical assistance. As part of this work, NASTAD will provide technical assistance in the development of local plans, and will establish, build, and maintain collaborative relationships with organizations to support the implementation of the local plans.
Health departments will be required to engage members of local communities that are most heavily impacted by HIV, people with HIV, local prevention and care integrated planning bodies, local HIV service providers, new partners, and others. CDC plans to issue additional guidance to ensure robust and diverse community involvement in development of local plans, which will continue to be refined over time, by the community.
Information: www.hiv.gov or www.cdc.gov/endhiv.
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