Comprehensive Community-based Programming to Maintain HIV Epidemic Control in Eswatini under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) | CDC RFA GH22 2222

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA GH22 2222

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, offered a PEPFAR-funded cooperative agreement opportunity titled "Comprehensive Community-based Programming to Maintain HIV Epidemic Control in Eswatini." The grant was published under Funding Opportunity Number CDC RFA GH22 2222 (CFDA 93.067) and was open to essentially any type of applicant (unrestricted eligibility, with any limits only if specified elsewhere in the notice). Applications were due February 28, 2022, by 11:59 pm ET, and CDC anticipated making two awards.

The purpose of the opportunity was to support community-based, comprehensive, evidence-based programming designed to help Eswatini sustain HIV epidemic control, specifically concentrating on the Manzini and Lubombo regions. The program emphasis reflects PEPFAR and broader global HIV control strategies: services should be client-centered, coordinated across sectors, and designed so that local systems can increasingly sustain and manage the work over time. A major expectation is strong collaboration with health services and also with social welfare systems, faith-based organizations, civil society, and other community structures, so that prevention, testing, treatment support, and protection services function as an integrated community response rather than as isolated projects.

Although the notice lists an "Award Ceiling for Year 1" as 0 (meaning no fixed per-award cap was stated for the first year), CDC projected an approximate total of $4,500,000 in funding for Year 1 across the program, contingent on funds being available. Because the instrument is a cooperative agreement, CDC would typically expect to have substantial involvement in implementation through ongoing technical direction, coordination expectations, and performance monitoring, rather than operating as a purely hands-off funder.

Programmatically, the NOFO prioritizes several interconnected areas. First is community-based HIV and gender-based violence (GBV) prevention, with a strong focus on reducing HIV acquisition risk among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW). Alongside that, the opportunity highlights expanding voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) coverage among adolescent boys and young men (ABYM), reflecting VMMC's role as a proven HIV prevention intervention in high-burden settings. Another priority is improving community case identification and linkage approaches for HIV and tuberculosis (TB), aiming to find people who are not yet diagnosed or not yet in care and connect them efficiently to appropriate services. The NOFO also calls for expanded community-based differentiated service delivery models, which generally means adapting service frequency, location, and delivery methods to meet clients' needs (for example, community ART refills, client-tailored follow-up, or streamlined models that reduce unnecessary clinic visits while maintaining quality of care). Finally, it places emphasis on strengthening the capacity of people living with HIV (PLHIV) networks, civil society organizations (CSOs), faith communities, and other local structures so they can deliver or support HIV, TB, and GBV services in a sustainable way.

A recurring theme throughout the opportunity is resilience and flexibility. CDC signals that the community systems and programming supported by this award should be able to keep functioning and adapt during health emergencies, environmental disruptions, or political instability, and should be structured so they can also be leveraged to respond to emerging public health needs beyond HIV when required. In practical terms, the NOFO is aiming to fund not only service delivery and prevention activities, but also durable community infrastructure, coordination mechanisms, and local capacity that help Eswatini maintain epidemic control over the long term.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control - CGH in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Comprehensive Community-based Programming to Maintain HIV Epidemic Control in Eswatini 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 Dec 30, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 28, 2022 Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 1159 pm ET on the listed application due date.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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