Cooperation in HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse

This grant competition focuses on research that fosters cross-national and international research collaborations on HIV/AIDS and related co-infections among drug using populations and their sexual partners, with special attention to the health and social consequences associated with these intertwined epidemics. This may include all aspects of research from basic to behavioral HIV prevention research. The common thread is to elucidate the pivotal role of drug use and abuse in the transmission and progression of HIV.  

Prevention research (e.g., outreach, drug abuse treatment) over the past two decades has focused on injection drug use, which has led to significant decreases in the number of new AIDS cases associated with this transmission category. Given the sustained importance of sexual transmission in new HIV infections, new HIV prevention research questions of great public health relevance have emerged. That is, “How much of a role does non-injection drug use play in facilitating sexual transmission of HIV?” and “What are the mechanisms involved?” and “What strategies are needed to prevent drug-related sexual acquisition and transmission of HIV?”    

Secondary HIV prevention research priorities include the development and testing of interventions to improve and maintain adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and opportunistic infection treatment medications among drug users, including those in high-risk groups and environments such as criminal justice settings.  Research prirotites also include linking HIV prevention to drug treatment and prevention services, cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness evaluations of interventions.  

Another major new priority area is the expansion of HIV testing and counseling in drug abusing populations. Of special interest within HIV prevention is drug abuse prevention among youth. The spectrum of research covered by these priorities will help to elucidate our understanding of HIV transmission dynamics and disparate health effects of drug use and HIV/AIDS among diverse population groups and their communities.  

Investigators interested in applying to this competittion are encouraged to select a research focus from one of the following research areas: (a) develop systematic epidemiological approaches for monitoring changes and patterns in transmission of HIV and other infections associated with drug use; (b) assess the impact of HIV prevention interventions on the dynamic of the HIV epidemic; and (c) characterize the risk networks, environmental contexts, and dynamic interactions between rapid behavioral and social changes, including natural and man-made disasters (e.g., famines, wars) and the spread of infectious diseases among new and vulnerable drug-using populations utilizing observational, molecular, medical and behavioral methodologies. Moreover, researchers will be encouraged to develop and evaluate the relative efficiency of novel epidemiological methods for obtaining HIV accurate incidence data in cost efficient manners for possible use in resource poor countries

Program Announcement Forms (185K) [download]
Cooperation in HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse Competition Program Announcement (153K) [download]