HIV Prevention Priorities

About the HIV 2022-2025 strategic plan

Vision

A future free of HIV.

Mission

To promote health and quality of life by preventing HIV infection and reducing HIV-related illness and death in the United States.

Guiding principles

Build on an existing foundation

DHP used existing strategic plan materials and internal documents, along with information gathered from partners, to inform the updated strategic plan.

Design for action

DHP focused on creating an actionable strategic plan, complete with the specificity and tools necessary to guide the implementation of recommended actions.

Bring DHP staff and collaborators on the journey

DHP actively engaged DHP staff and collaborators in the process to strengthen, facilitate buy-in, and encourage commitment to activating the supplement.

Apply a health equity lens

DHP engaged diverse perspectives, including from people with lived experiences, organizations serving disproportionately affected groups, and geographic diversity.

Focus areas

Health equity

DHP is committed to making health equity central to its efforts so that all people can benefit from available HIV prevention and care resources.

Community engagement

DHP recognizes that there is an opportunity to expand how it engages with people with lived experiences and communities and to increase the number and diversity of partnerships. These efforts will encourage new organizations and voices to come to the table to help in the development and implementation of tailored solutions that increase the effectiveness of prevention and treatment efforts at the local level.

Syndemic approach

Syndemics are epidemics of diseases or health conditions, such as viral hepatitis, STIs, substance use, and behavioral issues, that interact with each other. That interaction increases the adverse effects on the health of individuals and communities. In addition, social determinants of health (SDOH), such as racism, homophobia, poverty interact with syndemic conditions/diseases to elevate them to syndemic-level.

Collectively addressing these intersecting conditions and SDOH can result in better HIV prevention and care outcomes by prioritizing the whole person.

Status neutral approach

DHP’s goal of “No New HIV Infections” requires a bold and comprehensive delivery method for HIV prevention and care. A status-neutral approach includes high-quality care to engage and retain people in services regardless of if the services are for HIV treatment or prevention. Stigma and structural barriers are major obstacles that deter people from seeking HIV prevention and care. People with HIV and people who could benefit from HIV prevention are not two distinct populations but, rather, a group of people with similar medical and social service needs. Adopting a status neutral and whole-person approach to people in need of prevention and care services can address these similar needs, along with HIV-related stigma.

Investment areas and corresponding strategic actions

Strengthen DHP's workforce and organizational capacity

To best meet the demands of DHP’s programmatic/scientific portfolio and deliver on its mission, DHP aims to nurture and strengthen the well-being, diversity, and skills of its workforce to develop, support, and sustain its staff.

Expand access to and use of DHP funding

DHP will broaden how organizations and partners can access and use DHP funding to diversify the types of partners with which it works and to expand the impact of its work. In doing so, DHP hopes to increase engagement with and fund groups who historically have not been funded, such as organizations that are People Living with HIV (PLHIV)/Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC)-led. Additionally, DHP seeks to encourage innovations and a whole-person approach to care by expanding how funding can be used by recipients.

Enhance implementation guidance and technical assistance

Recognizing the diverse needs of partners, DHP will provide comprehensive and tailored support for all DHP funding recipients, pre- and post-award. DHP will work toward closing existing capacity gaps by increasing DHP's support of organizational development. The Division will assess its existing guidance and technical assistance to not only make sure it is comprehensive, but that it is also up-to-date and accessible.

Integrate data and data systems

DHP aims to use and to promote data-informed approaches to prevention and care by facilitating access to accurate and comprehensive data, modernizing current data systems, and supporting data use among funding recipients. Implementing the syndemic and status neutral approaches and centering health equity necessitates the use of accurate data to determine optimal allocation of resources.

Advance partnerships and increasing collaboration

DHP aims to diversify the scope of its partner engagements, expand collaborations, and foster a culture of cooperation. Additionally, DHP aims to cultivate a practice of knowledge sharing across the Division, its recipients, and its intra- and inter-agency partners. In doing so, the Division aims to expand its reach while also minimizing inefficiencies and duplicative efforts.

Support partner and recipient communication efforts

DHP aims to provide the tools, resources, and trainings to build grant recipient and partner capacity to communicate essential information, share successes, and build trust. Strengthening partner communication capabilities will enable partners to better address messaging issues, such as stigma; promote HIV services; and better engage communities.

Ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S. initiative

To reduce new HIV infections in the United States by 90% by 2030, the EHE initiative will scale up key HIV prevention and treatment strategies. The initiative is guided by four pillars through which DHP provides support to implementing jurisdictions. The four pillars are described below with attention to how CDC supports jurisdictions.

Diagnose

Under this pillar, CDC aims to diagnose all individuals with HIV as early as possible. Approximately 161,800 Americans have HIV but do not know it. Early detection is critical and can lead to improved health outcomes, rapid treatment, and prevention of transmission to others.

Treat

To increase life expectancy and efficacy of treatment, this pillar aims to treat people with HIV rapidly and effectively so that they live a longer life with an improved quality of life. Treatment eliminates the likelihood of passing HIV onto sexual partners for those who achieve viral suppression.

Prevent

CDC strives to prevent new HIV transmissions by using effective interventions, including preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP), postexposure prophylaxis (PEP), and syringe services programs (SSP).

Respond

Through CDC's support of the activities in this pillar, jurisdictions can increase their capacity to respond quickly to potential HIV outbreaks to get vital prevention and treatment services to people who need them in respectful and inclusive ways.