Department of Health: Enhancing HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment in Central America

Government Organizations:
• National Ministries of Health
• State and local governments or their Bona Fide Agents (this includes the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianna Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau) .
• American Indian/Alaska Native tribal governments (federally recognized or state-recognized)
• Political subdivisions of States (in consultation with States)

Non-government Organizations:
• American Indian/Alaska native tribally designated organizations
• Alaska Native health corporations
• Tribal epidemiology centers
• Urban Indian health organizations
• Nonprofit with 501C3 IRS status (other than institution of higher education)
• Nonprofit without 501C3 IRS status (other than institution of higher education)
• Research institutions (that will perform activities deemed as non-research)

Colleges and Universities

Community-based organizations

Faith-based organizations

For-profit organizations (other than small business)

Hospitals

Small, minority, and women-owned businesses

All Other eligible organizations

PEPFAR Local Partner definition:
To be considered eligible as a local partner under this Funding Opportunity Announcement, the applicant must submit supporting documentation demonstrating how their organization meets one of the three criteria listed below under the “PEPFAR Local Partner definition.” The supporting documentation must be included in the Appendices of the application and must be labeled as “Eligibility Documentation for PEPFAR Local Partner Definition.” Applicants that do not provide and/or label the supporting documentation required to meet the PEPFAR Local Partner definition above will not be considered eligible for review.

Government Organizations:
• National Ministries of Health
• State and local governments or their Bona Fide Agents (this includes the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianna Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau) .
• American Indian/Alaska Native tribal governments (federally recognized or state-recognized)
• Political subdivisions of States (in consultation with States)

Non-government Organizations:
• American Indian/Alaska native tribally designated organizations
• Alaska Native health corporations
• Tribal epidemiology centers
• Urban Indian health organizations
• Nonprofit with 501C3 IRS status (other than institution of higher education)
• Nonprofit without 501C3 IRS status (other than institution of higher education)
• Research institutions (that will perform activities deemed as non-research)

Colleges and Universities

Community-based organizations

Faith-based organizations

For-profit organizations (other than small business)

Hospitals

Small, minority, and women-owned businesses

All Other eligible organizations

PEPFAR Local Partner definition:
To be considered eligible as a local partner under this Funding Opportunity Announcement, the applicant must submit supporting documentation demonstrating how their organization meets one of the three criteria listed below under the “PEPFAR Local Partner definition.” The supporting documentation must be included in the Appendices of the application and must be labeled as “Eligibility Documentation for PEPFAR Local Partner Definition.” Applicants that do not provide and/or label the supporting documentation required to meet the PEPFAR Local Partner definition above will not be considered eligible for review.

Funding will support regional activities in 2 geographic clusters: Cluster A (Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica) and Cluster B (Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, and Panama). Applicants must submit a separate application and budget for each geographic area (Cluster) they intend to implement.

Cluster A – Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica:
• Regional expansion and enhancement of the Sexually-transmitted Infection Sentinel Surveillance and Control Strategy (VICITS, by its Spanish acronym), an HIV combination prevention intervention that includes improved STI diagnosis and treatment, condom promotion and distribution, HIV counseling and testing (HCT), linkage to care, and a second-generation surveillance information system.
• Regional implementation of the Positive Health, Dignity, and Prevention (PHDP) strategy among People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) that includes the provision of sexual risk reduction counseling, condoms, alcohol reduction counseling, disclosure support, partner and family HCT, adherence support, STI assessment and treatment, and family planning and safer pregnancy counseling.
• The potential for widespread emergence and transmission of HIV drug resistance (DR) to ARVs has been a major ongoing concern. Following WHO guidelines, grantee will support monitoring of HIV drug resistance among PLHIV initiating anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and PLHIV failing ART-transmitted and acquired HIV DR (Costa Rica Year 1).

Cluster B: Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, and Panama:
• Regional expansion and enhancement of the Sexually-transmitted Infection Sentinel Surveillance and Control Strategy (VICITS, by its Spanish acronym), an HIV combination prevention intervention that includes improved STI diagnosis and treatment, condom promotion and distribution, HIV counseling and testing, linkage to care, and a second-generation surveillance information system.
• Regional implementation of the Positive Health, Dignity, and Prevention (PHDP) strategy among PLHIV that includes the provision of sexual risk reduction counseling, condoms, alcohol reduction counseling, disclosure support, partner and family HCT, adherence support, STI assessment and treatment, and family planning and safer pregnancy counseling.
• The potential for widespread emergence and transmission of HIV drug resistance to ARVs has been a major ongoing concern. Following WHO guidelines, grantee will support monitoring of HIV drug resistance among PLHIV initiating ART and PLHIV failing ART -transmitted and acquired HIV DR (Honduras Year 1).
• Technical Assistance (TA) in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) to the M&E Unit of the National AIDS Program to collect and analyze data for priority performance indicators from all 20 health regions in the country (Honduras Year 1-4).
• Adapting multilevel intervention (Mpowerment, community-based HCT, and provider initiated testing- PIT), increasing the number of MSM testing for HIV for the first time.