This notice announces the opportunity to apply for funding for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program’s (RWHAP) Reducing Stigma at Systems, Organizational, and Individual Client Levels in the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB). HRSA will fund one cooperative agreement to develop a training and technical assistance program to reduce stigma for people with HIV on multiple levels throughout the health care delivery system, including on an individual client level. The program will focus on implementing various stigma-reducing approaches with an emphasis on cultural humility. The overall aim of the activities is to increase cultural humility in care and treatment settings for people with HIV to improve linkage, retention in care, and viral suppression. Training and technical assistance through this effort will build on existing programs and will be coordinated with similar activities in the HRSA RWHAP, National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund’s Building Leaders of Color project.
The Reducing Stigma at Systems, Organizational, and Individual Client Levels in the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program project will include activities such as:
• Assess the readiness of RWHAP recipients, with engagement from people with HIV, to implement stigma reduction strategies in their organizations and service delivery systems and assess any technical assistance needs related to implementing stigma reduction strategies.
• Develop an inventory of existing trainings, tools, and materials that reduce stigma using evidence informed interventions and strategies that emphasize cultural humility relevant to this cooperative agreement. Sources may include HRSA Special Projects of National Significance Program, HRSA AIDS Education and Training Center Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Training Centers, https://www.hiv.gov/federal-response/pepfar-global-aids/pepfar, and Health Policy Project, among others;
• Provide training and time-limited technical assistance to RWHAP recipients to reduce stigma through implementing evidence informed interventions and implementing strategies in their organizations and service delivery systems
• Provide training for people with HIV in stigma reduction interventions;
• Develop, facilitate, and evaluate learning collaboratives aimed at reducing stigma through implementing evidence informed interventions and strategies- participants include staff from RWHAP recipients and people with HIV; and
• Participate in national conferences and forums, such as the National Ryan White Conference on HIV Care and Treatment by submitting abstracts for presentations and disseminating information relevant to the target audience.
HRSA will provide input and approval of potential abstracts and presentations.
