USAID Sustaining Epidemic Control through Unified Prevention (SECURE) Activity | 72067424RFA00007

Opportunity Information: Apply for 72067424RFA00007

The USAID Sustaining Epidemic Control through Unified Prevention (SECURE) Activity is a health-focused funding opportunity designed to strengthen HIV prevention and epidemic control efforts in Lesotho by expanding access to person-centered, evidence-based biomedical HIV services. The activity is meant to reach both the general population and key populations (KP) with a unified package of prevention, testing, and treatment services, with a strong emphasis on community-level delivery. In practical terms, the grant is aimed at helping the Government of Lesotho revitalize HIV/AIDS prevention programming where people live and seek care, so that prevention and treatment services are easier to access, better targeted, and more responsive to individuals needs.

SECURE is closely aligned with major UNAIDS global targets and roadmaps. It supports the UNAIDS HIV Prevention 2025 Roadmap, which sets an ambitious expectation that 95 percent of people at risk of HIV should have equitable access to and be able to use appropriate, prioritized, and effective combination prevention options. This signals that the activity is not just about one intervention, but about a mix of complementary tools (for example, layered approaches that can include testing, linkage to treatment, and other biomedical prevention services) delivered in ways that match different peoples circumstances and risk profiles. The activity also reinforces the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets for key populations living with HIV (KPLHIV): ensuring that 95 percent know their HIV status, 95 percent of those who know their status are on antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 95 percent of those on ART achieve viral suppression (VS). Together, those targets emphasize an end-to-end continuum from diagnosis through sustained treatment and successful clinical outcomes.

Beyond service coverage and clinical outcomes, SECURE also reflects the enabling-environment priorities captured in the UNAIDS 10-10-10 targets. Those targets focus on reducing structural barriers that undermine HIV control, such as punitive legal and policy environments that restrict service access, stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV (PLHIV) and key populations, and gender inequality and violence affecting women and girls as well as PLHIV and KP. The inclusion of 10-10-10 in the opportunity description indicates that applicants are expected to consider not only direct service delivery, but also the social and structural factors that determine whether people can safely seek services, stay in care, and adhere to prevention or treatment.

The award is being offered under a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) as a cooperative agreement, meaning the recipient should expect substantial involvement from USAID during implementation compared with a more hands-off grant. The opportunity is managed by USAID South Africa (Pretoria) and is listed under CFDA 98.001, within the health funding activity category. USAID expects to make one award, with an award ceiling of $35,000,000, indicating a large, single-partner mechanism intended to operate at meaningful scale. The original application closing date was March 15, 2024, and the opportunity was created on February 16, 2024 (Funding Opportunity Number 72067424RFA00007).

Eligibility is intentionally broad and unrestricted. USAID is open to applications from U.S. private voluntary organizations, U.S. and non-U.S. NGOs, private non-profit organizations, and for-profit entities as long as they are willing to forego profit. Universities, research organizations, professional associations, and special interest associations are explicitly included, as are Public International Organizations and faith-based or community organizations. USAID also signals a strong interest in expanding and diversifying its partner base by welcoming applications from organizations that have not previously received USAID financial assistance. Applicants may apply as a single organization or as part of a partnership with international and/or local organizations, and the NOFO encourages the involvement of underutilized partners and local organizations, suggesting that proposals will be stronger when they demonstrate meaningful local participation, capacity strengthening, and sustainable engagement.

The application rules are straightforward but important for planning partnerships. Each organization may submit only one application as the prime applicant under this NOFO, but it may participate as a sub-awardee on multiple other applications led by different primes. USAID discourages exclusive teaming arrangements, which implies that applicants should avoid restrictive partnership structures that lock out other capable organizations or limit competitive collaboration. Individual applicants are not eligible, reinforcing that USAID is seeking institutional implementers with the organizational capacity to manage a large cooperative agreement and deliver complex, multi-component HIV programming at scale.

Overall, SECURE is essentially a large-scale implementation mechanism intended to accelerate epidemic control in Lesotho by combining biomedical prevention, expanded testing, and effective treatment coverage with attention to the policy, stigma, discrimination, and gender-related barriers that often determine whether HIV services actually reach the people who need them most.

• The South Africa USAID-Pretoria in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "USAID Sustaining Epidemic Control through Unified Prevention (SECURE) Activity" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 98.001.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-02-16.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-03-15. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $35,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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