Building capacity along the continuum from prevention to care and treatment in the Central American region under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)

The Notice of Funding Opportunity titled "Building Capacity Along the HIV Continuum from Prevention to Care and Treatment in the Central American Region Under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)" (CDC-RFA-JG-25-0067) aims to enhance HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and public health systems in Central America. The program focuses on addressing gaps in achieving UNAIDS targets: 95 percent of people living with HIV diagnosed, 95 percent of diagnosed individuals on treatment, and 95 percent of those on treatment achieving viral suppression by 2030. The target countries include El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and potentially other PEPFAR-approved countries. The funding emphasizes comprehensive HIV interventions for key populations such as men who have sex with men, transgender women, sex workers, and groups at substantial risk for HIV infection. Strategies include expanding the VICITS/CLAM sentinel surveillance for sexually transmitted infections, increasing access to pre-exposure prophylaxis and post-exposure prophylaxis, scaling innovative HIV testing methods such as index testing, self-testing, provider-initiated, and community testing, and ensuring effective linkage to treatment within seven days of diagnosis. Additional goals include improving retention in care, managing advanced HIV disease, increasing viral load suppression, and addressing coinfections like tuberculosis. Activities also aim to reduce stigma and gender-based violence while supporting Ministry of Health adoption of PEPFAR strategies. The program’s total expected year one funding is 20 million dollars, with two awards anticipated. Awards will span five years across five 12-month budget periods, contingent on funding availability and satisfactory performance. Applicants must propose plans for all five countries, with funding allocated based on defined quarterly targets and activities. The funding opportunity encourages local partner participation, offering 20 additional points during the selection process for eligible organizations meeting the PEPFAR local partner definition. Eligible applicants include governments, nonprofit and for-profit entities, academic institutions, tribal organizations, and foreign-based entities. Projects must be implemented in the designated Central American countries. Applications will be reviewed for responsiveness, adherence to scope, and budgetary limitations. Failure to meet eligibility or other key criteria, such as exceeding a 20-page project narrative, results in disqualification. Applications are due February 24, 2025, by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time through Grants.gov. The project narrative must include a background section, detailed implementation plans, outcomes, and focus populations. Applicants must also submit work plans, performance measurement and evaluation plans, data management plans, financial capability statements, organizational charts, resumes for key personnel, and relevant documentation, such as letters of commitment for partners. Applications will undergo merit review based on the strength of proposed approaches, organizational capacity, and data, monitoring, and evaluation plans. Budget justification is required but not scored. Final selection considers merit review scores, funding preferences, and programmatic priorities. Award notifications are expected by the end of August 2025, with projects beginning on September 30, 2025. Post-award expectations include routine performance reporting, data sharing, and evaluations aligned with PEPFAR and CDC guidelines. Applicants must allocate three percent of their budgets for monitoring and evaluation activities each. Reporting requirements include annual performance reports, financial reports, and other PEPFAR-specific submissions to track progress toward achieving HIV epidemic control.