News Release
Indian Health Service
The Indian Health Service is announcing five million dollars in funding for “Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S.” to support work toward the elimination of HIV and hepatitis C in Indian Country. Since the late 1980s, enormous progress has been made in the fight against HIV, but there is still work to be done. National interventions have reduced the number of new HIV infections, but not everyone is benefiting equally from these advances. New diagnoses are highly concentrated among men having sex with men; minorities, including American Indians and Alaska Natives; and those who live in the southern United States. Among people living with HIV, American Indians and Alaska Natives have the largest percentage of persons with undiagnosed HIV infection.
Stigma in Native communities can also be a debilitating barrier preventing someone living with HIV or at risk for HIV from receiving the health care services they need and deserve. Indian Health Service continues to address barriers for people living on Indian reservations and in other rural communities that limit opportunities for education and HIV testing.
In addition to the cooperative agreements, approximately $1.5 million will support clinical training, including funding for ongoing case-based training and technical assistance. Approximately $620,000 will support national infrastructure, and approximately $400,000 will support a national media campaign.
This funding comes in addition to the several Indian Health Service activities that are also supported by the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund, which has provided national-level programs like web-based youth education and prevention services, clinical training for HIV care, expansion of pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention, case management support for people living with HIV, support of National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and indigenizing the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. In June 2021, the Indian Health Service distributed close to $10.5 million through this competitive funding opportunity.
The Biden Administration is also continuing its support of the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative within Indian Country. The president’s budget requests $52 Million in FY 2023 for Indian Health Service to treat or reduce the transmission of HIV and Hepatitis C.
