Increasing PrEP Use Among Disproportionately Affected Populations in the United States

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is seeking applications to evaluate the effectiveness of implementation strategies to increase PrEP use among Black women in women’s health clinics.

Donor Name: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – ERA

State: All States

County: All Counties

U.S. Territories: Guam, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

Type of Grant: Grant

Deadline: 02/20/2023

Size of the Grant: $2,000,000

Grant Duration: 4 years

Details:

Effectiveness will be assessed by measuring increases in the number of women who initiate, adhere to, and persist with PrEP. The project will use an implementation science framework to understand key factors that contributed to successes and challenges associated with the implementation strategies. PrEP is a safe and effective biomedical HIV prevention intervention that is under-prescribed and under-utilized among Black women in the United States. Women’s health care settings, including family planning clinics, community health centers, and other clinics that provide women’s health care services, may be ideal sites to provide PrEP because women who might benefit from PrEP receive care at these clinics for contraception, pregnancy testing, STI testing, prenatal and post-partum care, and other health care services.

The primary objective of this implementation research study is to identify effective strategies to increase PrEP service provision and PrEP initiation, adherence, and persistence among disproportionately affected populations, especially Black women, in healthcare clinics. The expected primary outcome should be an increase in the proportion of PrEP-eligible women who initiate PrEP. The secondary outcomes should be increases in the proportion of PrEP users who adhere to, and persist with, PrEP, compared to baseline proportions. Additional objectives of this study could be to conduct assessments of implementation strategies using a framework such as the RE-AIM to understand reach and adoption and other aspects of implementation of the strategies, as well as to understand barriers and facilitators of PrEP implementation in healthcare clinics. Whenever possible, applicants should write their objectives in the SMART format (i.e., Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound).

The research objectives should be to:

Identify effective strategies to identify PrEP-eligible women in healthcare clinics.
Identify effective strategies to increase PrEP initiation, adherence, and persistence in healthcare clinics.
Identify barriers and facilitators to PrEP service provision and PrEP uptake in healthcare clinics.
Assess the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance of the PrEP implementation strategies, or assess teh stragegies using another framework.
Increase providers’ knowledge, positive attitudes, and prescribing behaviors of PrEP for disproportionately affected populations, especially Black women.
Increase knowledge, positive attitudes, and use behaviors associated with PrEP initiation, adherence, and persistence among disproportionately affected populations, especially among Black women.

Funding Information

Award Ceiling: 2,000,000 Per Budget Period
Award Floor: $1,500,000 Per Budget Period

Project Period

4 years

Target Population

The priority population for this study is disproportionately affected populations, especially Black women. This study should be implemented by one recipient in at least six clinics in different U.S. counties. These communities should have high rates of HIV diagnoses among disproportionately affected populations, especially among Black women, and the clinics should provide comprehensive women’s healthcare services to a large female patient population, with a high proportion of among those most affected, especially Black women. Implementation strategies should be tailored to the needs of disproportionately affected populations, including Black women and evaluated.

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
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: