Strengthening and Supporting the Development of a HIV-Related Proficiency Testing Network and Tiered Laboratory Continuous Quality Improvement Program for Countries Supported under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)

The Award Ceiling for Year 1 is 0 (none). CDC anticipates an Approximate Total Fiscal Year Funding amount of $10,000,000 for Year 1, subject to the availability of funds.Access to quality laboratory and diagnostic services remains at the nexus of the effective diagnosis, treatment, and management of HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and other opportunistic infections (OIs) in HIV-infected individuals. These services are critical to achieving optimal clinical outcomes; reaching and surpassing the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets; ensuring 100% HIV viral load (VL) coverage; and achieving an AIDS-free generation and will require: scale-up and operationalization of quality management system (QMS) tools, guidelines and policies at all levels of the diagnostic network; improved quality assurance (QA) and quality management (QM) at the laboratory and point of care (POC) settings for all HIV-related testing; increased human resources (HR) capacity with a sustainable training and certification program; support for policies and activities for increased utilization of tools to support access to timely and accurate test results and decrease turnaround times across the diagnostic cascade. PEPFAR-supported laboratory and diagnostic network strengthening/optimization activities have led to improvements in the diagnosis, treatment and management of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in PEPFAR-supported countries. However, work remains to fully scale policies and approaches to ensure timely access to quality diagnostic services, a certified and competent workforce, full implementation of robust QMS and Laboratory Continuous Quality Improvement (LCQI) policies and tools to facilitate access to results for clinical decision-making across the diagnostic cascade.