CDC/PEPFAR: Strengthening National Capacity for Integrated HIV/AIDS Health in South Sudan

Deadline: 17 October 2016

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an agency of Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is seeking applications from eligible organizations for a program entitled “Strengthening National Capacity for Integrated HIV/AIDS Health Data Collection, Use, and Dissemination in Support of an Evidence-based Response in South Sudan under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)”.

Goals

Achieving primary prevention of HIV infection through activities such as expanding confidential counseling and testing programs linked with evidence based behavioral change and building programs to reduce mother-to-child transmission;
Improving the care and treatment of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and related opportunistic infections by improving STI management; enhancing laboratory diagnostic capacity and the care and treatment of opportunistic infections; interventions for inter-current diseases impacting HIV infected patients including tuberculosis (TB); and initiating programs to provide anti-retroviral therapy (ART);
Strengthening the capacity of countries to collect and use surveillance data and manage national HIV/AIDS programs by expanding HIV/STI/TB surveillance programs and strengthening laboratory support for surveillance, diagnosis, treatment, disease monitoring and HIV screening for blood safety;
Developing, validating and/or evaluating public health programs to inform, improve and target appropriate interventions, as related to the prevention, care and treatment of HIV/AIDS, TB and opportunistic infections.

Funding Information

Approximate Total Fiscal Year Funding: $3,500,000
Total Project Period Length: 5 year(s)

Focus Activities

Implement a woman- and girl-centered approach;
Increase impact through strategic coordination and integration;
Strengthen and leverage key multilateral organizations, global health partnerships and private sector engagement;
Encourage country ownership and invest in country-led plans;
Build sustainability through investments in health systems;
Improve metrics, monitoring and evaluation;
Promote research, development and innovation

Expected Outcomes

Short-Term Outcomes
- Increased skilled health center staff for health reporting including HIV/AIDs indicators through DHIS-2
- Increased knowledge/use of South Sudan’s progress towards reaching Global 90-90-90 HIV targets and understanding the clinical cascade leakage at national and sub-national level
- Increased availability of program and survey reports disseminated to various audience
- Increased comprehension and use of national HIV guidelines by stakeholders for HIV programming
- Increased involvement of decision makers, community leaders and mainstreaming of HIV in government sectors through promoting awareness using data presented in reports and surveillance findings
- Ethics and review board guidelines, standards and procedures maintained and shared with relevant stakeholders
- Increased number of skilled laboratory staff in surveillance sample collection, storage and testing
Intermediate Outcomes
- Increased availability of accurate HIV data in national health reports that are periodically shared with partners
- Increased targeted HIV programming in high HIV burden areas and priority population
- Increased linkage of newly identified HIV-positives to ART through use of case base tracking
- Increased availability of data on specific geographic and population based HIV burdens and behaviors
- Increase in HIV prevention and treatment health research publications
- Increased access to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services
- Increase in scores of SI SID rating
- Increased capacity of national laboratories to support collection and testing of HIV biomarkers in surveys and surveillance
Long-Term Outcomes
- Reduction in general population and key population HIV prevalence
- Decreased community HIV viral load