Monday, December 30, 2024
12/30/2024
Zambia stands on the brink of achieving HIV epidemic control, yet critical gaps remain among key and priority populations (KP/PP). To achieve and sustain equitable HIV epidemic control, Zambia needs to identify and tailor differentiated service delivery (DSD) interventions for adolescents and young people (AYP) and KPs, including men who have sex with men (MSM), female sex workers (FSWs), transgender persons (TGs), people who inject drugs (PWIDs), and inmates and justice-involved people. The Advance DSD for Vulnerable and Adolescent Populations for National HIV Epidemic Control and Equity (ADVANCE) project brings together a consortium of local and international organizations and experts with >60 years of combined experience in Zambia to support the Ministry of Health (MOH): Ciheb Zambia, University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB), Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), Expanded Church Response (ECR), and local Zambian KP civil society organizations (CSOs) to be selected in partnership with the Zambian KP Consortium. These partners have collaborated for over 5 years, most recently on the target-exceeding CDC-funded CIRKUITS project focused on KP/PP. Local prime Ciheb Zambia, will provide technical service delivery leadership and project oversight drawing on national experience in scaling up KP/AYP interventions including DREAMS, and leading the Zambian COVID-19 vaccination campaign and PEPFAR community-led monitoring. UMB, a leading global health institution, has supported HIV technical implementation in Zambia for 20 years, recently completed ZAMPHIA 2021 with the MOH and has generated over 20 publications on evidence-based interventions under CIRKUITS. UMB will provide leadership and capacity building in monitoring and evaluation, strategic information, bio-behavioral surveys (BBS) and population size estimation (PSE). YWCA brings expertise in gender norms and economic strengthening and ECR in parenting programs to enable holistic and layered DREAMS services for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and their support network. To continue our success of KP-led and owned services, with three KP CSOs exceeding targets in CIRKUITS, ADVANCE will competitively select KP CSOs to implement the KP Investment Fund model. Together the ADVANCE consortium will roll out four interlocked strategies: 1) enable supportive and empowering interventions and policy to improve health equity for KP/AYP, including innovative approaches such as long-acting injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis; 2) expand DSD models to provide integrated and tailored HIV health services to KP, including peer support, services in KP safe spaces, and methadone therapy; 3) advance DSD for AYP, including DREAMS, youth-friendly spaces, and community program to reach all youth with HIV prevention and treatment services; and 4) use data-driven approaches for precision public health including conducting PSE, BBS and triangulating with program data for decision-making. ADVANCE’s partnership and strategies will ensure achievement of its purpose to use precision public health, informed by BBS, PSE, population-based HIV impact assessment (PHIA), and program data to guide targeted implementation of integrated KP/AYP prevention and treatment to close gaps in HIV epidemic control. In line with PEPFAR’s reimagined strategic direction, ADVANCE brings community leaders, innovation, and data to support health equity, sustainability, transformative partnerships, strengthened health systems and security to follow the science. Implementation will be supported by health policy and guided by rigorous M&E, continuous quality improvement, and dissemination of best practices. ADVANCE will lead to decreased HIV/TB incidence, morbidity, and mortality among KP/AYP in Zambia along with improvement of patient outcomes and response capacity of MOH - ultimately helping Zambia achieve UNAIDS 95-95-95 goals and UNDP/PEPFAR 10-10-10 targets.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).