Strengthening Capacity of Central Asia and Eastern Europe Countries to Implement Sustainable and Effective HIV/AIDS Prevention, Care, and Treatment and Health Security Programs under PEPFAR - ICAP at Columbia University is prepared to immediately launch Strengthening Capacity of Central Asia and Eastern Europe Countries to Implement Sustainable and Effective HIV/AIDS Prevention, Care, and Treatment and Health Security Programs under PEPFAR. The purpose of this project is to promote and strengthen ministries of health (MOH) and local entities’ leadership to implement, evaluate, and expand innovative, evidence-based HIV prevention, testing, and care and treatment (C&Tx) services for at-risk populations and enhance strategic information (SI) and health system capacity in Kazakhstan (KZ), the Kyrgyz Republic (KG), and Tajikistan (TJ) to achieve HIV epidemic control. This project will also support strengthening of public health (PH) security, preparedness, and response to emerging and re-emerging diseases. As PEPFAR’s lead HIV C&Tx implementing partner in CA since 2011, ICAP has been at the frontline of HIV prevention and service delivery with an emphasis on reaching key populations (KP), as a trusted and reliable partner to MOH, national and local AIDS centers, narcology centers, health facilities (HFs), community-based organizations (CBOs), and medical education institutions. ICAP’s leadership has substantially strengthened health systems, including surveillance and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems, and introduced innovations in HIV programming and data systems that have been successfully adopted and scaled up in KZ, KG, and TJ. ICAP has also promoted PH security by responding to COVID-19 and improving surveillance and health communication through data analysis, visualization and informatics support, regional surveillance quality improvement (QI) collaboratives, and field epidemiology training programs (FETPs). Building on 13 years of collaboration, ICAP will work closely with MOH, national and local AIDS centers, HFs, and CBOs in CA to accelerate progress towards sustained epidemic control, enhance regional and national PH security, and HIV program management by scaling up equitable, person-centered, KP-focused services, integrating continuous QI to drive results and targeting capacity building (CB) and technical assistance (TA) strategies for the greatest impact. Underpinning ICAP’s work is a steadfast commitment to building capacity of the MOH at all levels to reduce HIV incidence and HIV-related morbidity and mortality (Str. 1, Str. 2), to utilize quality data for decision-making (Str. 4), and to bolster investments that strengthen PH security, preparedness, and response (Str. 3). ICAP’s strategically targeted, high-quality, tailored support will enhance regional and country leadership of the HIV/AIDS response and enable CA institutions to assume full responsibility for essential PH functions by the end of PY4. ICAP will work at the national level with Republican AIDS Centers (RACs) and Republican Narcology Centers in KZ, KG and TJ. Implementation of site-level activities will be done in partnership with Oblast and local level AIDS Centers, medication-assisted therapy (MAT) sites, primary healthcare providers, such as Family Medicine Centers, Health Centers and Polyclinics, and local CBOs for KP and persons living with HIV (PLHIV). Laboratory strengthening activities will be implemented in collaboration with RAC laboratories, other national references laboratories, and facility-level laboratories. Anticipated long term outcomes of these investments include: increased capacity within the PH system to respond to the HIV epidemic and other PH concerns; increased viral load suppression rates among PLHIV; improved HIV program management at all levels; reduced HIV incidence among all populations; reduced HIV-related morbidities and mortalities among all populations; improved PH security and national government response capability at regional and national levels; and increased use of high-quality data and evaluation findings by key stakeholders to inform national policy and programs.
