HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell announced the availability of $11 million, through the Affordable Care Act and the Secretary’s Minority AIDS Initiative Fund, to support the integration of high‐quality HIV services into primary care through innovative partnerships between health centers and state health departments in Florida, Massachusetts, Maryland and New York. This initiative supports the goals of the Administration’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy.
“Integrating HIV services into primary care settings is critical to delivering on the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, and today’s announcement creates a great opportunity for collaboration between health centers and health departments,” said Secretary Burwell. “Working together, they will be able to better impact the health and lives of men and women living with HIV in a meaningful way.”
This funding opportunity is part of a new three-year, multi-agency project– Partnerships for Care: Health Departments and Health Centers Collaborating to Improve HIV Health Outcomes. Run jointly by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), this project will enable HRSA-funded health centers to work with CDC-funded state health departments to expand the provision of HIV prevention, testing, care, and treatment services, especially among racial/ethnic minorities.
“We are excited about enhancing the capacity of the health center workforce and strengthening the partnerships between public health and health centers,” HRSA Administrator Mary Wakefield, Ph.D., R.N. said. “These partnerships will play a key role in helping patients get increased access to comprehensive HIV services.”
In June, CDC awarded cooperative agreements to the four state health departments to support implementation of this project within communities most impacted by HIV. Health departments receiving the CDC awards identified 22 health centers as partners in their efforts. These health centers are eligible to apply for the opportunity announced today which supports workforce development, infrastructure development, HIV service delivery, partnership building, and quality improvement activities.
For more information on this funding opportunity announcement, please visit
http://www.hrsa.gov/grants/apply/assistance/bphchiv.
