Dr. Ronald Valdiserri

In a recent joint letter to grantees, leadership of HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) and CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP) re-affirmed their support for integrated HIV prevention and care planning groups and activities. They also announced a common 2016 deadline for key plans that will enable the submission of integrated state HIV plans. This is an important step toward realizing the National HIV/AIDS Strategy’s recommendation for development of comprehensive statewide HIV/AIDS plans.

HRSA and CDC encourage Ryan White and HIV prevention programs at the local and state level to integrate planning activities, the letter notes. Toward that end, HRSA and CDC have determined that the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) Parts A and B Comprehensive Plans and the CDC Jurisdictional HIV Prevention Plan will all be due in September 2016. Also due at that time will be the RWHAP Part B Statewide Coordinated Statement of Need (SCSN). HRSA and CDC are working to align the guidance(s) for the RWHAP Comprehensive Plans/SCSN and the Jurisdictional HIV Prevention Plan to enable the submission of an integrated HIV Plan that is responsive to the grant requirements of both HRSA and CDC.

"This is an exciting development, one that shows CDC and HRSA leadership to be responsive both to the National HIV/AIDS Strategy's call for better coordination of federal programs and to State AIDS directors' pleas for greater administrative simplification,” observed my colleague Andrew Forsyth, Ph.D., Senior Science Advisor at the HHS Office of HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Policy.

The common deadlines and support of integrated state HIV plans will position states to take additional steps to better align HIV prevention and care activities as called for in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.