Strengthening Clinical and Laboratory Services at National Referral Level to Improve HIV Prevention, Care and Treatment in the Republic of Zambia, through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) | CDC RFA GH15 16030301SUPP17

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA GH15 16030301SUPP17

This funding opportunity, issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the CDC under PEPFAR, focuses on strengthening Zambia's national referral-level clinical and laboratory capacity to improve HIV prevention, care, and treatment outcomes. Structured as a cooperative agreement (CDC RFA GH15-16030301SUPP17), it is designed to support one awardee with up to $1,000,000. The intent is to provide high-quality, targeted technical assistance and capacity building that helps Zambia sustain and progressively take full ownership of critical HIV services and the systems that support them. Although the overall program is framed around PEPFAR and Global Fund priorities, the award is described as primarily supporting technical assistance to implementing partners rather than directly running large-scale frontline service delivery.

The program is centered on five priority technical areas where applicants can propose support: Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT), adult HIV care and treatment clinical services, pediatric HIV care and treatment, surveillance and strategic information (SI), and laboratory systems. Across these areas, the ultimate public health aim is clear: reduce HIV-related morbidity and mortality and improve quality of life for adults and children living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. The scope emphasizes not only clinical care, but also the supporting elements that make programs durable and measurable, such as laboratory quality systems, workforce development, patient tracking, and data systems for monitoring, evaluation, and reporting.

A key feature of this opportunity is its placement within Zambia's national referral context, particularly in Lusaka at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), Zambia's national tertiary referral hospital. UTH is described as a large institution (1,863 beds) that receives patients from across the country, houses major specialist clinics, and serves as the primary medical and paramedical teaching center. It also hosts several national reference laboratories and has established adult and pediatric HIV Centers of Excellence. The FOA highlights UTH's past performance implementing CDC cooperative agreements for PEPFAR-funded HIV programs, noting strong compliance with technical and financial requirements and achievement of more than 90 percent of planned targets across areas like treatment, HIV testing and counseling, PMTCT, and HIV/TB services. The opportunity therefore builds on UTH's role as both a service hub and a national resource for training, standards, and specialized diagnostics.

Operationally, the awardee is expected to ensure comprehensive, hospital-based HIV and TB/HIV services that include counseling, laboratory testing, clinical care and treatment, nutritional guidance, and social services for both adults and children. There is a strong emphasis on ensuring a continuum of care, meaning patients should be effectively linked between hospital services and Lusaka's primary health care facilities, with systems in place to track patients across service points and document HIV clinical outcomes. The FOA also extends beyond HIV in a narrow sense by incorporating services for survivors of gender-based violence (GBV), including child sexual abuse (CSA). This includes expanding access to post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), psychosocial support, and building staff capacity and infrastructure for forensic investigations as an interim measure until Zambia completes construction of a dedicated National Forensic Science Laboratory.

The opportunity is explicitly tied to national coordination and sustainability commitments. It references the 2013 five-year Mutual Accountability Framework between Zambia's Ministry of Health and cooperating partners/donors, which is meant to align donor investments with national plans and strengthen coordination. The awardee is expected to operate within this framework by collaborating with the Ministry of Health to provide leadership consistent with Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) policies, following guiding principles from the National Health Strategic Plan (NHSP) 2011-2015 and relevant national HIV/AIDS/STI policies, and using GRZ structures and community health and social support systems where appropriate. In practice, this means the work is intended to strengthen national systems rather than create parallel donor-run structures, with an eye toward long-term continuity after external support decreases.

The FOA also lays out concrete performance objectives with 2020 targets that reflect both service quality and coverage ambitions. These include scaling provider-initiated testing and counseling within supported facilities from roughly 50 percent coverage to more than 95 percent, with a target of testing 129,823 adults and children. It aims to reduce mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) among managed HIV-positive pregnant women from about 9 percent to below 2 percent by 2020, reaching 22,420 pregnant women with PMTCT services. It also targets the expansion of Advanced Treatment Centers in Zambia from one to five by 2020, suggesting a focus on building higher-level capacity for complex HIV care. For GBV and CSA survivors, the goal is to raise coverage of PEP and psychosocial services from 49 percent to 95 percent by 2020. On the laboratory side, the objectives include achieving national coverage of proficiency testing programs for HIV rapid testing and CD4 enumeration and increasing the number of laboratories accredited to international standards by 2020, reinforcing that laboratory quality and standardization are treated as central to national HIV program performance.

In summary, this opportunity is aimed at reinforcing Zambia's top-tier referral hospital and national laboratory ecosystem as a cornerstone of the national HIV response, while also improving linkages to primary care and strengthening monitoring systems. It combines clinical excellence, laboratory quality improvement, workforce development, and strategic information functions to improve outcomes and sustainability. Even though the FOA notes that it is not meant to fund direct implementation at scale, it is clearly designed to bolster the technical and institutional capacity that enables large HIV programs, including those financed by PEPFAR and the Global Fund, to function reliably and meet ambitious national targets.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control - CGH in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Strengthening Clinical and Laboratory Services at National Referral Level to Improve HIV Prevention, Care and Treatment in the Republic of Zambia, through 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 Oct 31, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Dec 31, 2017 Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 1159 p.m., ET, on the listed application due date.. (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 $1,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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