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Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Purpose

Purpose

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) is soliciting feedback from the public on the ATN. Comments about the ATN will provide valuable information for use in advancing the NICHD adolescent HIV research agenda in the United States.

Background

The ATN is a research program to develop and conduct innovative behavioral, community-based, translational, therapeutic, microbicide and vaccine trials in youth ages 12 to 24 years who are at-risk for HIV or living with HIV. The main objectives of the ATN are aimed at the reduction of new HIV infections among youth at-risk for HIV and improvements in numbers across the HIV care continuum among adolescents and young adults living with HIV who are medically disenfranchised, of low socio-economic status, sexual and gender minority, and/or of racial/ethnic minority constituency including African American, Hispanic, and/or substance abusing youth.

Studies conducted in the ATN, either collaboratively with other NIH HIV Networks and independently, have focused on several research priorities (see RFA HD-16-035), including the evaluation of:

• Safety, acceptability, uptake and effectiveness of biomedical prevention modalities
• Novel approaches to identifying youth with undiagnosed HIV
• Theoretically-based behavioral and social interventions, including multilevel, combination prevention approaches Interventions and programs grounded in a prevention infrastructure and implemented independently and collaboratively with federal, state and local authorities

• Effectiveness of community-level interventions to improve HIV Care Continuum outcomes by mobilizing and partnering with communities to make appropriate structural changes and remove barriers to care
• Strategies to address emergent and evolving healthcare financing challenges youth face throughout the HIV continuum of care
• Safety, acceptability, uptake and effectiveness of novel long-acting ART formulations and delivery systems that may improve youth uptake and adherence to ART
• Interventions to promote safer sexual behavior
• Programs designed to promote or optimize engagement in care and antiretroviral drug adherence
• Integrated treatment approaches on HIV infection and its therapy, incorporating psychological, medical and ancillary services care.

Importantly, the research objectives of the ATN are in alignment with and responsive to the Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America goals to reduce new HIV infections in the United States by 75 percent in five years and by 90 percent by 2030.

Information Requested

NICHD seeks input from researchers in academia and industry, health care professionals, patient and family advocates, scientific or professional organization, federal partners, internal NIH stakeholders, and other interested members of the public.

Specifically, NICHD is asking for comments and responses to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of the ATN in addressing the adolescent HIV epidemic in the United States. We’re interested in your responses to the following questions, and other suggestions:

1. Relevancy of ATN research priorities in advancing the state of the science and sufficiency of ATN research priorities to capture anticipated research needs.
2. Types of studies necessary for the ATN to consider in order to address the four strategies of the Ending the HIV Epidemic Plan.
3. Types of Network structures and/or additional approaches, models and strategies NICHD should consider at is determines the methods by which it will support the ATN infrastructure and research studies.
4. Additional input relevant for the ATN.

How to Submit a Response

To ensure consideration, responses should be submitted via email to NICHDATNRFI@mail.nih.gov no later than October 30, 2020. Please indicate “ATN RFI Response” in the subject line of the email.

Responses to this RFI are voluntary. Do not include any proprietary, classified, confidential, trade secret, or sensitive information in your response. The responses will be reviewed by NIH staff, and individual feedback will not be provided to any responder. The U.S. Government will use the information submitted in response to this RFI at its discretion. The U.S. Government reserves the right to use any submitted information on public NIH websites, in reports, in summaries of the state of the science, in any possible resultant solicitation(s), grant(s), or cooperative agreement(s), or in the development of future funding opportunity announcements.

This RFI is for planning purposes only and should not be construed as a solicitation for applications or proposals, or as an obligation in any way on the part of the United States federal government, the NIH, or individual NIH Institutes and Centers to provide support for any ideas identified in response to it. The federal government will not pay for the preparation of any information submitted or for the government’s use. Additionally, the government cannot guarantee the confidentiality of the information provided. No basis for claims against the U.S. Government shall arise as a result of a response to this request for information or from the Government’s use of such information.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Sonia Lee, PhD
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Telephone: 301-594-4783
Email: LeeSonia@mail.nih.gov