NIH: Promoting Viral Suppression among Individuals from Health Disparity Populations Engaged in HIV Care

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking applications for its Promoting Viral Suppression among Individuals from Health Disparity Populations Engaged in HIV Care.

Donor Name: National Institutes of Health (NIH)

State: All States

Deadline: 04/03/2023

Size of the Grant: $750,000

Grant Duration:  5 years

Details:

This initiative will support research projects to test interventions to promote antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation, ART adherence, and suppressed viral load for people living with HIV (PLWH) from health disparity populations who live in geographic areas with a high rate of new HIV infections and are engaged in HIV care.

Research Objectives

This initiative will support research projects to test interventions to promote ART initiation, ART adherence, and suppressed viral load for PLWH engaged in HIV care in one or more geographic hotspot. The justification of the proposed geographic hotspot(s) should be based on surveillance, clinical, or research data indicating that rates of viral suppression within the hotspot as a whole or for the specific target populations within the hotspot are lower than the national average. The population focus for this initiative is expected to be primarily Black and Latino men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women, as these populations have elevated rates of new HIV infection as well as risk of HIV transmission. Other health disparity populations with low levels of viral suppression within the proposed hotspots may also be included as appropriate, including non-Hispanic white MSM, cisgender African American or Latina women, or rural residents who inject drugs.

Interventions are expected to have the following features:

• Based in one or more HIV care settings, rather than interventions that are delivered independently from ongoing HIV care.
• Are delivered by personnel from the HIV care setting or collaborating service providers rather than research personnel.
• Simultaneously promote ART initiation/adherence and reduce high risk sexual and/or drug use behaviors during periods of non-suppression to prevent HIV transmission to sexual partners.
• Address relevant multi-domain, multi-level determinants of poor ART adherence, viral non-suppression, and high risk HIV behaviors .
• Use direct assessment of viral load (not only self-report) as the primary outcome in addition to relevant behavioral outcomes (e.g., ART adherence, condom use, PrEP use by sexual partners).
• Emphasize intervention effectiveness, comparative effectiveness, implementation strategies, or optimization of multi-component interventions.
• Are supported by relevant preliminary data. However, it is not expected that all intervention elements or implementation strategies will have been pilot tested.
• Projects that examine cost-effectiveness of intervention implementation and delivery.

Areas of special interest include but are not limited to the following:

• Testing of interventions in HIV care settings in multiple geographic hotspots.
• Use of cluster randomized trials rather than individual-level clinical trials.
• Interventions that directly engage sexual partners in ART adherence and HIV risk behavior reduction intervention components.
• Interventions that include clinician- or clinic-level intervention components to enhance cultural competency and reduce health-care related stigma and discrimination towards HIV positive individuals, racial/ethnic minorities, and/or sexual and gender minorities.
• Engagement of members of the target high-risk health disparity populations or subgroups as investigators, advisors, or peer interventionists.
• Collaboration with diverse local stakeholders in addition to HIV care providers, including other types of healthcare providers, school systems, school-based student or parent associations, community-based organizations, consumer organizations, patient advocacy organizations, and faith-based organizations to enhance intervention relevance, feasibility, and sustainability.
• Projects that examine cost-effectiveness of intervention implementation and delivery

Funding Information

Application budgets are limited to $750,000 direct costs annually, not including consortia F&A.

 Project Period

The scope of the proposed project should determine the project period. The maximum project period is 5 years.

Eligible Applicants

Higher Education Institutions

• Public/State Controlled Institutions of Higher Education
• Private Institutions of Higher Education

The following types of Higher Education Institutions are always encouraged to apply for NIH 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
• Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs)

Nonprofits Other Than Institutions of Higher Education

• Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)
• Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)

For-Profit Organizations

• Small Businesses
• For-Profit Organizations (Other than Small Businesses)

Local Governments

• State Governments
• County Governments
• City or Township Governments
• Special District Governments
• Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Federally Recognized)
• Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Other than Federally Recognized)

Federal Governments

U.S. Territory or Possession

Other

• Independent School Districts
• Public Housing Authorities/Indian Housing Authorities
• Native American Tribal Organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
• Faith-based or Community-based Organizations
• Regional Organizations

Foreign Institutions

• Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Institutions) are not eligible to apply.
• Non-domestic (non-U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are not eligible to apply.
• Foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are allowed.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.