Minority HIV/AIDS Fund Background

Summary

• HIV-related health outcomes have improved over time, but some communities still experience worse outcomes than others.
• The Minority HIV/AIDS Fund was instituted in support of innovative HIV programs and projects to prevent HIV and improve HIV-related health outcomes for these communities.
• The Fund prioritizes activities that encourage capacity building, innovation, collaboration, and integration of best and promising practices and effective strategies in the response to HIV among minority communities.

Origin of the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund

In 1998, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) held a meeting to brief service providers and community leaders on public health surveillance data showing extremely high rates of HIV among African Americans. Following the release of this data, the White House, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Congressional Black Caucus, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus secured Federal funding to create the Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI) in the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 1999. The MAI provided new funding designed to strengthen organizational capacity and expand HIV-related services in minority communities.

A total of $166 million in funding was allocated to MAI in that first year. Over the years, the annual Congressional appropriation for the MAI grew.  The legislation allocates MAI resources to the CDC, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and the HHS Secretary’s Minority HIV/AIDS Fund (SMAIF). The HHS Office of HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Policy (OIDP) administers the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund (formerly SMAIF, now referred to as MHAF) on behalf of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) and the Office of the Secretary.

The principal goals of the MHAF are to reduce new HIV infections, improve HIV-related health outcomes, and reduce HIV-related health disparities for racial and ethnic minority communities. The MHAF supports cross-agency demonstrations and agency-administered projects that are awarded to HHS agencies and offices for innovative HIV prevention, care and treatment, outreach and education, and technical assistance activities serving racial/ethnic minorities. The activities funded through the MHAF are particularly designed to encourage capacity building, innovation, collaboration, and the integration of best practices, effective strategies, and promising emerging models in the response to HIV among minority communities.

How Is the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund Different?

Overall, HIV-related health outcomes have improved over time, but racial and ethnic minority populations continue to be disproportionately impacted by HIV. Significant HIV-related disparities still exist. To address these disparities and related gaps in programs and services, the MHAF supports innovative programs, including implementation science initiatives that integrate evidence-based strategies and interventions to achieve sustainable changes in the Federal response to HIV prevention, care, and treatment.

The MHAF has also been at the leading edge in addressing social factors of HIV through initiatives such as the Care and Prevention in the United States (CAPUS), Partnerships for Care (P4C), and Targeted Highly Effective Interventions to Reverse the HIV Epidemic (THRIVE) demonstration projects, which promote cross-agency collaboration to advance the goal of reducing HIV-related disparities. Activities supported by the MHAF break down silos and develop new avenues for agencies to work together to quickly test innovative strategies and models that address newly emerging issues. The successes generated from MHAF-supported activities create lasting changes in communities and across the Federal HIV prevention and care portfolio.

The MHAF awards funds for projects that seek to prevent HIV and improve health outcomes for Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Asian and Pacific Islander populations at risk for or living with HIV/AIDS. Projects prioritize services for those who are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS.