Improving HIV/TB Policy Implementation in the KwaZulu Natal (KZN) Province in South Africa under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)

The Award Ceiling for Year 1 is 0 (none). CDC anticipates an Approximate Total Fiscal Year Funding amount of $500,000 for Year 1, subject to the availability of funds. The South African National Department of Health (NDoH) and the Departments of Health (DoHs) at provincial levels lead the public-sector HIV treatment and prevention efforts to achieve epidemic control. As of December 2019, there were 5.9 million people on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the public sector, including 157,749 children (<15 years) and 4,411,868 adults. Despite strong health regulatory and policy interventions, and a clear agenda for quality health care and substantial annual expenditure for the public health system, shortcomings and barriers at decentralized levels of the public health system continue to risk access to adequate health care and ability to translate health policy into providing lifesaving interventions for citizens of South Africa (SA). As SA moves towards epidemic control, the PEPFAR program seeks to invest in more sustainable cost-efficient approaches to maintain the quality of HIV and TB services. This NOFO will fund a province-level DoH to translate policy to implementation, support data management and visualization, and address critical gaps in leadership and management, coordination, communication capacity building, supply chain and human resources for health (HRH) planning. Investing in stronger HIV/TB program oversight at the province level in KZN will support faster adoption and implementation of key policies and pave the path to a more efficient PEPFAR program in the long term.