Supporting Antiretroviral Treatment through Improved Information, Linkage, and Quality of Care in Ukraine under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) | CDC RFA GH18 1817

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA GH18 1817

The grant opportunity titled "Supporting Antiretroviral Treatment through Improved Information, Linkage, and Quality of Care in Ukraine under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)" is a CDC-funded effort focused on strengthening Ukraine's HIV treatment program by improving the systems that track, manage, and improve antiretroviral therapy (ART) services. It is built around a core national priority: scaling up ART as the central driver of progress across the HIV treatment cascade, meaning the sequence from diagnosis to linkage to care, treatment initiation, retention, and viral suppression. The project is designed to take an existing foundation, specifically a previously developed HIV medical information system (MIS) created under the ACCESS project, and expand it so it functions reliably and consistently across the country's PEPFAR-supported regions.

At the center of the project is the scale-up of the HIV MIS to treatment sites in all 12 PEPFAR focus oblasts, with the inclusion of Vinnitsa as well. The intent is not just to install software, but to make the system operational in routine clinical practice and ensure it is supported by local capacity. That includes structured capacity building for healthcare workers and site staff, with an emphasis on day-to-day information management, improving data quality, and building the ability to analyze and use the data for decision-making. In practice, this means helping facilities and regional/national stakeholders move from fragmented or paper-based tracking toward a standardized electronic approach that can show patient status, service delivery gaps, and performance against treatment cascade targets.

A major technical expansion in the scope is the development and implementation of a laboratory information system module that integrates with the broader HIV MIS. This component is meant to strengthen the way laboratory results are captured, managed, and used, which is essential for HIV care because key decisions depend on lab monitoring (for example, viral load testing to assess treatment effectiveness). Adding a lab module supports faster access to results, reduces manual errors, improves continuity of patient records, and enables better program monitoring at facility, regional, and national levels.

Alongside information systems work, the opportunity also emphasizes improving the quality of care delivered at treatment sites. The project includes implementing quality improvement (QI) activities at all supported facilities. This generally refers to structured, ongoing methods that help clinics identify bottlenecks in service delivery (such as delays in ART initiation, missed appointments, incomplete monitoring, or poor documentation), test changes, and track whether those changes lead to measurable improvement. The QI focus aligns with treatment cascade goals by aiming to increase retention in care, improve clinical management, and support sustained viral suppression outcomes.

Another key service-delivery component is facility index testing, implemented in coordination with other PEPFAR and Global Fund-supported activities. Index testing in this context means systematically offering HIV testing services to sexual partners and other contacts of people diagnosed with HIV, using a facility-based approach. The goal is high coverage of index testing at supported sites, which supports earlier identification of undiagnosed HIV cases and strengthens linkage to treatment, ultimately feeding into ART scale-up targets.

The opportunity is offered as a cooperative agreement, meaning CDC anticipates substantial involvement in guiding and collaborating on implementation rather than simply providing funds with minimal federal engagement. It falls under a health funding activity category and is associated with CFDA number 93.067. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, and the funding opportunity was released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Center for Global Health (CGH). The original closing date was October 2, 2017. The anticipated award structure indicates one expected award with an award ceiling of $1,700,000, suggesting a single implementer would be responsible for delivering the full package of activities across the targeted regions.

The expected results are clearly defined and revolve around making the information system and related interventions functional and useful in real-world operations. First, the HIV MIS should be operating at treatment sites across the 12 PEPFAR priority regions and Vinnitsa, and it should be run by an operator affiliated with the Government of Ukraine (GoU), signaling an emphasis on sustainability and local ownership rather than dependence on external partners. Second, the data produced by the MIS should be actively used by facilities, the GoU, PEPFAR, and other stakeholders, which points to a shift from collecting data for reporting purposes to using it for program management and clinical improvement. Third, the laboratory module should be implemented, expanding the MIS into an integrated clinical and lab information platform. Fourth, quality improvement activities should be implemented at all supported treatment sites, embedding routine performance improvement into care delivery. Finally, high coverage facility index testing should be conducted at supported sites, strengthening case finding and linkage efforts in a way that complements treatment expansion.

Overall, the opportunity combines digital health scale-up, workforce capacity building, lab-data integration, and targeted service-delivery improvements into a single package aimed at accelerating and sustaining ART scale-up in Ukraine. The design reflects a practical understanding that treatment outcomes depend not only on drug availability, but also on strong patient tracking, reliable lab monitoring, continuous quality improvement, and proactive identification and linkage of people living with HIV.

• The Centers for Disease Control - CGH in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Supporting Antiretroviral Treatment through Improved Information, Linkage, and Quality of Care in Ukraine under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.067.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-08-02.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-10-02. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,700,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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