The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has started handing out money to state and local health departments across the country to help fund high impact HIV prevention activities in 2012. The total amount of money available for 2012, intended to cover the first year of a five-year funding cycle, comes to $339 million, said the federal agency on Wednesday.
In a statement, the CDC said:
“The awards are a critical component of CDC’s new high-impact approach to HIV prevention and better align resources to reflect the geographic burden of the HIV epidemic today.”
Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, said:
“State and local health departments are the backbone of the nation’s HIV prevention efforts.”
“This latest round of funding will help them lead the nation to slow, and ultimately end, the HIV epidemic in the United States – a public health imperative that could finally be achieved,” he added.
The money is not just a handout – it comes with strings attached, in the form of new, specific guidance for how to prioritize the activities that will bring the most impact to reducing new HIV infections.
Providing funding to health departments accounts for around half of CDC’s overall HIV prevention budget.
Kevin Fenton, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, said:
“With 50,000 new HIV infections every year and a tough economic environment, the need to do more with existing resources is greater than ever.”
He said this was a new funding approach targeted at the places where “needs are most urgent” and where the impact will be most far-reaching.
“It will help us achieve the ambitious goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy with the efficiency and urgency the HIV epidemic demands,” he added.
The new funds have been awarded to health departments in eight cities, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, and the six Pacific Island jurisdictions.
The amount given out to each health department is decided according to a “formula” that matches need for resources to the geographical burden of HIV, such that those places with the most people living with HIV get the most money.
“This new funding approach ensures that many areas with heavier HIV burdens receive urgently needed funding increases,” said the CDC.
In March 2012, the federal agency will also award another $20m to health departments to implement innovative projects that demonstrate how to prevent HIV. The agency is in the middle of looking at the applications for this round of funding, which will be awarded on a competitive basis.
Written by Catharine Paddock PhD