Technical Assistance for Accelerating the Coverage and Quality of Effective HIV Prevention, Treatment and Care Activities Among Key Populations and People Living with HIV in Thailand under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) | CDC RFA GH20 2006

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA GH20 2006

This funding opportunity is a CDC cooperative agreement under PEPFAR focused on providing targeted technical assistance to strengthen HIV prevention, treatment, and care services for key populations and people living with HIV in Thailand, with an emphasis on provinces and facilities where service gaps are limiting progress. The program is framed around Thailand's concentrated HIV epidemic, which is estimated at about 440,000 people living with HIV and roughly 15,000 deaths in 2018. A major driver of new infections is unprotected sex among men who have sex with men, and the announcement highlights that testing, treatment uptake, and viral suppression for MSM and transgender women continue to trail the UNAIDS 95-95-95 goals. The gap is especially pronounced in Bangkok, where the HIV burden is highest yet the clinical cascade performance is described as the weakest.

The core purpose of the award is to accelerate both coverage and quality of effective HIV services by embedding hands-on support and technical guidance into public and other health facilities in priority areas. Rather than simply funding direct service delivery, the project is aimed at improving how systems find new cases, link people rapidly to care, maintain people on treatment, verify viral suppression, and use reliable data to manage programs. Recipients are expected to work closely with national and local stakeholders and multiple implementing partners so that improvements are aligned with Thailand's national AIDS program and can be scaled or replicated where they are most needed.

On the prevention and case-finding side, the opportunity prioritizes more proactive approaches to identifying people with HIV and those at highest risk. This includes active case finding strategies such as index testing (identifying and offering services to contacts of people diagnosed with HIV) and the use of rapid recency testing to better understand and respond to recent transmission patterns. It also emphasizes expanding and optimizing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) as a key prevention tool for populations at substantial risk, including MSM and transgender women, with the broader intent of reducing incidence while improving the efficiency of outreach and service delivery.

On the treatment and care side, the announcement focuses on improving clinical cascade performance through concrete service delivery enhancements. Priority activities include supporting same-day antiretroviral therapy initiation so people diagnosed with HIV can start treatment immediately, strengthening retention in care so patients do not drop out over time, and improving viral load testing coverage and follow-up so viral suppression is measured and acted upon. The opportunity also highlights multi-month scripting (dispensing longer supplies of ART to stable patients) to reduce clinic burden and improve patient convenience, as well as supporting Thailand's transition to the preferred tenofovir/lamivudine/dolutegravir (TLD) regimen where clinically appropriate. In addition, it underscores integration of TB prevention through TB preventive therapy (TPT), reflecting the ongoing importance of TB as a major comorbidity and cause of illness among people living with HIV.

A significant operational expectation is improving data quality and use, since program performance on testing, treatment initiation, retention, and viral suppression depends on accurate, timely information. Recipients are expected to strengthen monitoring systems, help facilities identify and close gaps in the cascade, and ensure data are reliable enough to guide decisions and demonstrate progress toward targets. This data emphasis is paired with a regional knowledge-sharing component: recipients will coordinate with partners to disseminate technical assistance approaches and best practices from Thailand and across the region through workshops, study tours, technical assistance visits, and online platforms. The intent is not only to improve outcomes in Thailand but also to position Thailand's lessons learned as useful to neighboring or regional countries working toward similar 95-95-95 goals.

In terms of funding and administrative details, this is a discretionary CDC notice of funding opportunity (CDC RFA GH20-2006) using a cooperative agreement mechanism, meaning CDC is expected to have substantial involvement in program direction and oversight. The CFDA listing is 93.067, and eligibility is described as unrestricted (open to any entity type, subject to any additional eligibility clarifications in the full notice). CDC projected approximately $1,000,000 in total funding for the first year, contingent on availability of funds, with an expectation of two awards. The notice lists an award ceiling for Year 1 as "0 (none)," which typically signals that a specific per-award cap is not being set in the notice even though total anticipated funding is provided. The opportunity was posted in early January 2020 with an original application deadline in early March 2020, with electronic submissions due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the closing date.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control - CGH in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Technical Assistance for Accelerating the Coverage and Quality of Effective HIV Prevention, Treatment and Care Activities Among Key Populations and People Living with HIV in Thailand under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.067.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jan 06, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 06, 2020 Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 1159 p.m., ET, on the listed application due date.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for CDC RFA GH20 2006

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