Group items tagged

HIV-associated neurological disorders (HAND) persist in up to 50% of HIV-patients even when HIV replication is suppressed by combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), which transformed HIV/AIDS from a fatal illness into a chronically managed long-term condition. HIV does not infect neurons, but infects microglia and macrophages in the brain, causing HAND associated neuropathology. HAND epitomizes a series of disorders include Asymptomatic Neurocognitive Impairment (ANI), Mild Neurocognitive Disorder (MND), and HIV-Associated Dementia (HAD). These neurocognitive deficits interfere with psychomotor speed and coordination, diminishing memory and executive functions, and reduce quality of life in long-standing aviremic HIV-positive patients. These clinical challenges mandate research for a better understanding of HIV neuropathology; however, currently there are no effective approaches for HIV-infected live human brain studies or realistic HIV-infected animal models for HIV neuropathology. Proposed projects MUST include the following components. Applications which lack these three components will be considered non-responsive to the FOA and will not be reviewed. The major thrust of the project MUST involve exploitation of induced microglia and cerebral organoids generated from patient derived iPSC lines to better understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms of HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder (HAND). At least one aim or sub-aim MUST also involve either 1. opioid, cannabinoid, methamphetamine, nicotinic, dopaminergic, or other signaling pathways relevant to addictive substance use, or 2. exposure to addictive substances, or 3. analysis of samples from patients that have used addictive substances or have SUDs.

The purpose of this program is to implement comprehensive HIV prevention programs to reduce morbidity, mortality, and related health disparities. In accordance with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/NHAS.pdf) and CDC's High-Impact HIV Prevention (HIP) approach (http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/strategy/hihp/index.htm), this FOA focuses on HIV in the nation by reducing new infections, increasing access to care, and promoting health equity. These goals will be achieved by enhancing community-based organizations' capacities to increase HIV testing, link HIV-positive persons to HIV medical care, increase referrals to Partner Services (PS), provide prevention and essential support services for HIV-positive persons and high-risk persons with unknown/negative serostatus, and increase program monitoring and accountability. Standard performance measures for HIV prevention programs that are consistent with the focus of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy on improving performance and accountability are included in this FOA.

This notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) supports the acceleration of a comprehensive HIV prevention, care, and treatment program to achieve HIV epidemic control in selected Health Zones (HZs) in Kinshasa province. This aims to provide evidence-based interventions, including targeted HIV testing, to find more people living with HIV (PLHIV), especially among eligible contacts of HIV positive index cases, as well as community outreach through Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) services; HIV prevention services; TB/HIV prevention, diagnosis, and treatment services; Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) for general population and key population (KP); and associated laboratory and strategic information (SI) services. Through a stigma-free approach, the recipient will provide direct support and technical assistance to accelerate the HIV service delivery cascade and improve data quality and utilization for decision-making. The recipient will also work closely with the Ministry of Health (MOH) to strengthen the technical capacity of provincial and HZ Teams. Capable community organizations are expected to contribute by improving uptake of HIV services, linkage, and retention. The ultimate goal is the elimination of HIV by 2030.

This NOFO will build on previous PEPFAR support under the HHS/CDC HIV treatment program in Côte d'Ivoire (CI) to ensure continuity of comprehensive HIV/AIDS services to an existing pool of clients receiving HIV/AIDS care, support, and/or treatment. The program will also continue expanding access to HIV/AIDS services while building the capacity of national structures and contributing to sustainable service delivery within the health sector in CI. Specifically, it serves to increase capacity and sustainability of the response toward controlling the HIV/AIDS epidemic by initially providing support for HIV service delivery aligning with PEPFAR geographic and programmatic pivots by local indigenous organizations and ultimately providing technical assistance to the national Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene (MSHP) to sustain and expand comprehensive HIV prevention, care, and antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs. The recipient(s) will combine a facility and community-based strategy to support HIV/AIDS services. At the end of the 5-year project period, the recipient(s) should be able to collect and evaluate program data that demonstrates improved quality of HIV prevention, care, and treatment services in CI and to transition activities to MSHP and/or local organizations to sustain a basic HIV service package.

This NOFO will support implementation and acceleration of comprehensive HIV prevention, care, and treatment programs for HIV/AIDS epidemic control in Fort Portal Region of Uganda. This will entail implementation of comprehensive HIV/AIDS services in line with the new WHO guidelines,including targeted HIV testing services (HTS) to find more people living with HIV (PLHIV), especially men and key and priority populations (KP/PP) through HIV care and treatment; TB/HIV prevention, diagnosis, and treatment;elimination of Mother-to-Child Transmission (eMTCT); Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC); services for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC); and associated laboratory and strategic information (SI) services through a health systems strengthening approach. Additionally, the recipient will work closely with the Ministry of Health (MOH) to strengthen the technical capacity of regional structures and District Health Teams (DHTs) for an effective public health decentralized HIV/AIDS response. Expected outcomes include improved access,coverage, and quality of HIV services ensuring 90% of PLHIV know their status;90% of people diagnosed with HIV infection receive antiretroviral therapy (ART); and 90% of those on treatment are virally suppressed.

The purpose of this NOFO is to provide funding and technical assistance for PEPFAR countries to establish HIV recent infection surveillance to detect recent infections, monitor trends in the HIV epidemic, identify hot spots associated with recent HIV transmission, and inform programmatic interventions to reach epidemic control. Point-of-care tests for recent infection distinguish between recent (HIV seroconversion in the last 6 months, on average) and non-recent HIV infection and provide results within minutes. These data may be linked to HIV case-based surveillance for ongoing epidemic monitoring and used by programs to provide enhanced counselling for immediate ART initiation, prioritize index testing, and intervene to prevent HIV transmission. This NOFO will require a multi-disciplinary team with expertise in surveillance, laboratory, prevention, HIV testing services, health informatics, data management, data analytics, and supply chain to support the planning, implementation, and impact evaluation of this PEPFAR priority activity.

This notice solicits applications for a new three-year Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) initiative entitled Capacity Building in the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program to Support Innovative Program Model Replication. This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) responds to recent changes in the HIV epidemic and the need to find effective solutions that improve health outcomes along the HIV care continuum for people living with HIV (PLWH). During recent years, a number of innovative interventions have demonstrated effective responses that contribute to ending the HIV epidemic. Ryan White providers who have developed these evidence-informed interventions have produced replication manuals and other tools to assist organizations and jurisdictions interested in adapting and/or replicating such interventions. This NOFO seeks to build the capacity of Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) recipients and subrecipients to replicate effective models of care., with a particular focus on RWHAP jurisdictions identified as disproportionately affected by HIV By building capacity and encouraging the implementation or replication of effective models of care, the RWHAP intends that these jurisdictions will bring recent innovations to scale, thus improving systems of care, reducing health disparities, improving outcomes along the HIV care continuum, and ultimately contributing towards meeting the goals and objectives of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.

Mozambique is at a critical junction of controlling its HIV/AIDS epidemic in order to meet The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) goal of 90-90-90 by 2020 and 95-95-95 by 2030. Reaching these goals not only requires robust clinical interventions, but simultaneously requires addressing social, cultural, and legal barriers that inhibit equal access to health services for all people living with and affected by HIV. This requires not only the training of those at a local level who interact with people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) or other vulnerable populations but also building the capacity of civil society organizations that can assist with improving uptake of HIV services as well as improving retention and linkages. This NOFO will increase the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality of HIV services provided in health facilities or community level by implementing innovative activities that reduce stigma and discrimination, increase retention and linkages of HIV and TB services, improve health facilities’ redress mechanisms, optimize care for HIV and TB patients, and improve patient rights and access to quality services for PLHIV.

This FOA supports highly innovative R01 applications on HIV/AIDS and drug abuse and complements the Avant-Garde Award Program for HIV/AIDS and Drug Use Research and the Avenir Award Program for Research on Substance Abuse and HIV/AIDS. The Avant-Garde award supports individuals who conduct high-risk, high-reward research and does not require a detailed research plan. The Avenir award is similar to the Avant-Garde award but focuses on support for early stage investigators. Applications submitted under this FOA are required to have a detailed research plan and preliminary data. This FOA focuses on innovative research projects that have the potential to open new areas of HIV/AIDS research and/or lead to new avenues for prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS among substance abusers. The nexus with drug abuse should be clearly described. This FOA is open to both individual researchers and research teams and is not limited to any one area of research on HIV and substance use, but all studies must focus on NIH HIV/AIDS Research Priorities https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-15-137.html.

The goal of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to translate and adapt the most successful global, evidence-based HIV-related service provision strategies to marginalized populations in the United States (U.S.) with a substantial risk of HIV-infection and AIDS. The ultimate goal, is to produce improvements in HIV-related health outcomes in these key populations through strategies that successfully and durably reach them with timely HIV testing, prevention and treatment technologies that lead to the achievement of the UNAIDS 90-90-90 benchmarks: by 2020, 90 percent of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status, 90 percent of all people with diagnosed HIV infection will receive sustained antiretroviral therapy and 90 percent of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.

The current FOA aims to support HIV preventive interventions in Mozambique targeting KP and OVP in provinces of Mozambique characterized by high prevalence of HIV, rapid development and increasing number of multinational companies, transport corridor areas, high mobility and transient male workforce, increased tourism, and increased HIV risk from commercial sex work and transactional sex, which together constitute some of the main factors driving the epidemic in Mozambique. A successful FOA respondent will support the adoption of combination prevention approaches targeting behavioral, biomedical, and structural interventions to ensure effective reach and impact on target population. Interventions aim to increase knowledge of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among KP and other priority populations, reduce sexual risk behavior, increase knowledge and access to preventive commodities among target population. Interventions will also promote HIV testing and counseling (HTC) and create demand for the uptake of HTC services by KP and OVC, increase access to HIV, STI and tuberculosis (TB) services in addition to other health care services, and support access to universal coverage of HIV treatment for all eligible PLHIV within KP and OVP.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) seeks to stimulate HIV/AIDS research within the mission of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) that addresses high priority HIV/AIDS research priorities outlined by the NIH Office of AIDS Research (OAR). These priorities are described in NOT-OD-15-137: NIH HIV/AIDS Research Priorities and Guidelines for Determining AIDS Funding. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) seeks to stimulate HIV/AIDS research within the mission of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) that addresses high priority HIV/AIDS research priorities outlined by the NIH Office of AIDS Research (OAR). These priorities are described in NOT-OD-15-137: NIH HIV/AIDS Research Priorities and Guidelines for Determining AIDS Funding.

The purpose of this FOA is to stimulate research on interventions to reduce HIV/AIDS-associated stigma and its impact on the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS and on the quality of life of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH). Specifically, this initiative will support research on a) novel stigma reduction interventions that link to increase in care-seeking behavior and/or decrease in transmission; b) reducing the impact of stigma on adolescent and/or youth health; c) strategies to cope with the complex burden of stigmatization due to HIV and one or more comorbidities/coinfections; d) reducing effects of stigma on and/or by family members or caregivers of PLWH; and e) innovative and improved stigma measurement in the context of implementation of an intervention. The overall goals are to understand how to reduce stigma as a factor in HIV transmission, to eliminate or mitigate the aspects of stigma that limit beneficial health outcomes for the infected and at-risk individuals and communities, and to initiate exploratory studies to determine the feasibility of stigma interventions related to HIV prevention, treatment and/or care in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).

1) Policy/Advocacy: This category recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding effort and leadership in policy/advocacy-related activities that improve the welfare of people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS, and/or whose work improves the delivery of prevention services to individuals and communities affected by HIV/AIDS. 2) Research: This category recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding effort and leadership in the conduct, dissemination, and translation of high-quality research in the areas of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment/care, and/or policy. 3) Service Provision: This category recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding effort and leadership in the delivery of psychological services to people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS, and/or the delivery of technical or support services to community agencies that provide a range of HIV/AIDS-related services to individuals and communities affected by HIV/AIDS. 4) Teaching/Mentoring: This category recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding effort and leadership in educating psychologists or students in psychology about HIV/AIDS practice, research, and/or policy. 

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to stimulate research in the pathogenesis of perinatal HIV-1 infection by elucidating HIV-1 immune responses in the setting of the infant's evolving immune system and mechanisms of establishment and maintenance of HIV-1 latent viral reservoirs.  The goal of this FOA is to gain knowledge to be used in the future development of strategies to induce HIV-1 remission.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to stimulate research in the pathogenesis of perinatal HIV-1 infection by elucidating HIV-1 immune responses in the setting of the infant's evolving immune system and mechanisms of establishment and maintenance of HIV-1 latent viral reservoirs.  The goal of this FOA is to gain knowledge to be used in the future development of strategies to induce HIV-1 remission.   

CDC, in collaboration with the National AIDS Control Program/Department of AIDS Control, has successfully laid the foundation for quality standards and approaches within India's vast HIV laboratory network through a previous five-year laboratory strengthening funding opportunity announcement (FOA). Many achievements were made during the course of the five-year project period, including accreditation of national and state reference labs. This follow-on FOA is expected to build upon and sustain previous accomplishments through onsite mentoring and in service staff training with an eye to higher quality services and scale up. A plan will be developed to facilitate laboratory quality at the grassroots level for 12,000 + Integrated HIV Testing and Counseling Centers (ICTCs). This shall be done through trainer/mentor creation within the HIV laboratory network to assist peripheral laboratories in implementing minimum quality standards. Given its expanded technical assistance (TA) scope, it is also expected to build the capacity and assure quality in a phased manner for HIV related tests like CD4 enumeration, HIV viral load and STI through strengthening leadership and mentoring capacity within the laboratory network. Now in Phase IV of its HIV/AIDS response, the Government of India (GoI) is keen to address any gaps in testing coverage.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking applications for a cooperative agreement from qualified entities to implement the "HIV Services and Systems Strengthening (HS3)" program. USAID/Dominican Republic (DR), under the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), will continue to assist the Government of the Dominican Republic (GoDR) in achieving HIV epidemic control through the implementation of clinical care activities using a health systems strengthening (HSS) approach under the proposed HIV Services and Systems Strengthening (HS3) Project from 2018-2023. The overall aim of the activity should be to assist the GoDR in reaching HIV epidemic control and preparing the GoDR and key population/priority population (KP/PP) safety-net private providers to transition from donor support.The purpose of the HS3 Project is to implement dynamic, catalytic, scalable, and responsive HIV service delivery packages for KP/PP to accelerate the country's HIV response to achieve 90-90-90 targets while effecting positive change on the health system to remove barriers that prevent the DR from reaching 90- 90-90. Key populations are defined as men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender (TG) individuals, and female sex workers (FSW). Priority populations are defined as migrants of Haitian descent.

To support research projects exploring the roles of biomolecular condensates (BMCs) and their regulators in processes relevant to HIV/SIV infection, replication, latency, or pathogenesis in the context of substance use disorders. These processes could include studies exploring BMC involvement in HIV infection, HIV replication (including viral gene expression), HIV latency formation or maintenance (including chromatin structure), or HIV pathogenesis (including neurodegenerative processes). Studies could also include investigation of roles for BMCs or their regulators on host cell functions in the context of HIV infection, antiretroviral therapy, and/or exposure to addictive substances.

To support research projects exploring the roles of biomolecular condensates (BMCs) and their regulators in processes relevant to HIV/SIV infection, replication, latency, or pathogenesis in the context of substance use disorders. These processes could include studies exploring BMC involvement in HIV infection, HIV replication (including viral gene expression), HIV latency formation or maintenance (including chromatin structure), or HIV pathogenesis (including neurodegenerative processes). Studies could also include investigation of roles for BMCs or their regulators on host cell functions in the context of HIV infection, antiretroviral therapy, and/or exposure to addictive substances.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to fill gaps in our understanding of (a) the impact of substance abuse on HIV, HIV/HCV co-infection associated disease progression, (b) the pathogenic interactions between HIV and hepatitis C virus, (c) hepatic and non-hepatic co-morbidities associated with HIV/HCV-co-infections in people with substance abuse disorders (SUDs), and (d) the effectiveness of interferon-free direct acting antiviral (DAAs) drug regimens to treat HIV/HCV co-infections in people with SUDs. This FOA is informed by priority area in the NIH HIV/AIDS Research Priorities and Guidelines for Determining AIDS Funding: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-15-137.html and the HHS National Viral Hepatitis Action Plan 2017-2020: https://www.hhs.gov/hepatitis/blog/2017/01/19/updated-national-viral-hepatitis-action-plan-2017-2020.html