PEPFAR Small Grants Virtual Spaces Intervention and Community-led Monitoring for Priority Populations in Nigeria

U.S. Embassy Nigeria through the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Coordination Office of the Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy at the U.S. Department of State announces an open competitive opportunity for organizations to apply for funding to implement community-led monitoring or a virtual spaces intervention among priority populations for HIV prevention and treatment, including Key Populations (KP) and Adolescent and Young People (AYP).

For HIV to no longer be a public health threat by 2030 in Nigeria, the populations at highest risk must know their HIV status, receive lifesaving HIV prevention and treatment, and reach viral suppression if they are HIV-positive. Data show that HIV prevention and treatment efforts should be focused on AYP and KPs. Key Populations include men who have sex with men, transgender individuals, sex workers, people who inject drugs (PWID), and people in prisons and other closed settings.

Under this opportunity, the PEPFAR Coordination Office seeks to address pillar 1 of the 5x3 strategy, health equity for priority populations. Youth make up a significant proportion of the more than 32.9 million Nigerians reported to be active users of social media. AYP-led CSOs in the country have identified a gap with the lack of structured sexual health and HIV messaging and interventions on these platforms.

Virtual online space is a digital environment that enables people to, socialize, interact, and gather information using available technologies and non-necessarily requiring a physical space to operate. Interventions on a virtual space may include, but not be limited to phone services such as calls and messaging, mobile applications, websites, and social media channels. Through Virtual Spaces Interventions, PEPFAR Nigeria intends to address the gaps in the use of online platforms and spaces by meeting KP and AYP where they are; providing them with HIV and other relevant health information; facilitating referrals and linkages to health facilities for person-centered HIV prevention, treatment, and other health care services. Prioritizing these spaces as a compliment of existing health systems in the on-going efforts to increase program reach among AYP and KPs, and to use this space to facilitate health promotion, HIV testing and case-finding, and drive access to other health services in a confidential manner.

This program seeks to increase access to quality, concise and accurate HIV and health related messaging, facilitate active referrals and linkages to spaces and locations which can provided access to strategic HIV and other health services for prevention, treatment and care interventions targeted at AYP and KPs by leveraging on virtual spaces utilized by adolescents and young persons. The program will support community-led monitoring efforts among AYP and KP-led groups using platforms such as "iMonitor +" to ensure that HIV positive individuals among these priority populations are receiving high quality care and treatment services, identify any challenges, barriers, and/or gaps to care, and to report findings to PEPFAR to inform service delivery.