IHS Announces Funding Opportunity to Promote HIV/AIDS Prevention and Engagement in Care

Funding awards will expand activities to improve HIV prevention and care outcomes among American Indians and Alaska Natives

The Indian Health Service (IHS) today announced a new HIV/AIDS prevention and care funding opportunity available to Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations and Urban Indian organizations. The funding is intended to meet American Indian and Alaska Native community needs to improve HIV prevention and care outcomes to align with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy: Updated to 2020 Exit Disclaimer: You Are Leaving www.ihs.gov . The agency will award up to five cooperative agreements together totaling up to $200,000 a year for five years. This effort is part of an ongoing collaboration between IHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Centers for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, Division of STD Prevention. CDC is jointly funding the agreement and will provide subject-matter expertise to support the effort.

“IHS is continuing to invest in HIV education, prevention and quality medical care for American Indians and Alaska Natives, as well as outreach to the groups most affected,” said Mary Smith, IHS principal deputy director. “This cooperative agreement funding opportunity underscores the Indian Health Service’s commitment to support the American Indian and Alaska Native communities we serve in providing the HIV prevention and care activities that are most effective for them.”

This grant seeks to increase local activities to support American Indian and Alaska Native communities in five emphasis areas:

1. Increasing access to comprehensive Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) services
2. Identifying local-level priorities for HIV care needs and creating tools and resources
3. Improving engagement and retention in care among people living with HIV/AIDS
4. Supporting and educating communities on risk reduction activities for persons who inject drugs and extend access to services for medication-assisted therapies for persons with opioid addiction in accordance with Federal, state, tribal and local laws
5. Increasing local-level delivery of age-appropriate HIV and sexually transmitted infections prevention education

A cooperative agreement is an assistance agreement in which the Federal Government provides funding or services to a Tribe, Tribal organization or Urban non-profit for the accomplishment of authorized activities or tasks. The application package for this announcement can be found at https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2016/06/27/2016-15115/office-of-clinical-and-preventive-services-national-hiv-program-hivaids-prevention-and-engagement-in Exit Disclaimer: You Are Leaving www.ihs.gov . The application deadline is August 28, 2016.

More than half of the new HIV diagnoses among American Indian and Alaska Native persons are estimated to be among people under the age of 35. For more data on HIV/AIDS in American Indians and Alaska Natives, see the “Trends in Indian Health” 2014 report.

The IHS National HIV/AIDS Program serves as the primary source for national education, policy development, budget development, and allocation for clinical, preventive and public health HIV/AIDS programs for the IHS, area offices and service units. The program also coordinates and promotes HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment activities specific to Indians as part of a comprehensive public health approach. On May 5, IHS held its third public meeting on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and two-spirit (LGBT2-S)  health issues to gain a better understanding of the health care needs of American Indian and Alaska Native LGBT2-S people so that IHS can implement improvements in health policy and health care delivery.

The IHS, an agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provides a comprehensive health service delivery system for approximately 2.2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives.