CDC: Understanding Infant Feeding Preferences, Practices, and Outcomes for Mothers and other Parents with HIV

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is seeking applications to support a study to understand the infant feeding preferences, practices, and outcomes for people with HIV in the United States.

Donor Name: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

State: All States

County: All Counties

Type of Grant: Grant

Deadline: 02/08/2024

Size of the Grant: $500,000 to $1 million

Grant Duration: 5 Years

Details:

Improvements in HIV antiretroviral therapy have led to reductions in perinatal HIV transmission, opening the door to shared decision making by pregnant people with HIV and their medical providers regarding breastfeeding of infants; however clinical, behavioral, and social factors associated with infant feeding practices in this population remain poorly understood and require further elucidation. There is also an interest in understanding health outcomes of infants breastfed by persons with HIV, and in interventions both to support postpartum PWH to optimize their health and to optimize care for breastfed infants.

Applicants will design, develop, and anticipate to conduct mixed methods research:

to describe the clinical, behavioral, social, and demographic characteristics of PWH who are pregnant or post-partum and their live born infants.;
to understand the nuances and details of preferences of formula feeding or breastfeeding, decisions and practices as well as facilitators and challenges for successful breastfeeding;
to explore biologic and clinical factors associated with HIV transmission through breastfeeding;
to describe the knowledge, decisions and practices of health care professionals regarding shared-decision making and the provision of support for successful infant feeding, maternal and infant clinical follow up; and
to assess feasibility of and pilot implementation of observational registry or interventional studies to monitor and improve care of breastfeeding PWH and their infants with collaborating clinics and other partners

By increasing access to, and use of, HIV prevention services among women, this NOFO should support the following Healthy People 2030 goals:

HIV-01: Reduce the number of new HIV infections.
HIV-03: Reduce the number of new HIV diagnoses.
HIV-06: Reduce the rate of mother-to-child HIV transmission.

Objectives/Outcomes

The proposed research study is expected to address the following objectives: Infant feeding (e.g., formula and breastfeeding):

Understand preferences for infant feeding among PWH.
Investigate aspects of clinical, behavioral, and social epidemiology pertaining to infant feeding decision-making among PWH, including both the pregnant person and those supporting her decision such as physicians, nurses, lactation consultants, family, and social workers.
Determine best practices, costs, and benefits of supporting PWH to safely feed their infants.
Describe and monitor HIV transmission during breastfeeding and explore potential risk or protective factors, including comprehensive laboratory evaluations of the viral profile of breast milk whether transmission occurs or not.
Determine the feasibility of establishing a confidential voluntary registry of breastfeeding PWH and their breastfed infants nationwide to determine the risk and magnitude of HIV transmission via breastfeeding in the United States.
Contribute to knowledge base on effective approaches to support health and optimize care for pregnant and postpartum PWH and their infants.

Funding Information

Estimated Total Funding: $5,000,000 Estimated total funding available for the first year (first 12 months), including direct and indirect costs: $1,000,000
Estimated total funding available for the entire project period, including direct and indirect costs: $5,000,000
Award Ceiling: $1,000,000
Award Floor: $500,000

Total Period of Performance Length

5 year(s)

Eligibility Criteria

State governments
County governments
City or township governments
Special district governments
Independent school districts
Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities
Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education)
Private institutions of higher education
For profit organizations other than small businesses

Additional Eligibility Category

The following types of Higher Education Institutions are always encouraged to apply for CDC support as Public or Private Institutions of Higher Education:

Hispanic-serving Institutions
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs) Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian
Serving Institutions Nonprofits (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)
Nonprofits (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)

Governments