Sarah Toce
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), has announced more than $68 million in Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program funding to provide family-centered medical care and essential support services for women with low incomes, infants, children, and youth with HIV. This announcement supports and advances the Biden-Harris Administration’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy.
HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson announced the awards during the latest state convening of HRSA’s Enhancing Maternal Health Initiative. Today’s convening of Maryland community leaders, state and local health officials, and grant recipients, washeld at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. Last year, HRSA launched the Maternal Health Research Collaborative for Minority Serving Institutions – more than 16 universities and colleges, coordinated by Morgan State University – to improve maternal health disparities research and identification of community-based solutions. HRSA is investing $50 million over five years in the collaborative.
“HHS is committed to helping new moms and their babies stay healthy, so we are making vital health care services – including care for those living with HIV – available and accessible,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “The funding that HRSA is announcingtoday will provide resources to promote the health and well-being of women, infants, and children in communities across the country.”
“We know that many women with HIV continue to face barriers accessing HIV care and treatment, including stigma and lack of social support,” said HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson. “Through this funding, community-based organizations across the country will deliver lifesaving, culturally responsive HIV care to help women with HIV access the health care they need and live long, healthy lives.”
HRSA’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program provides a comprehensive system of HIV primary medical care, medication, and needed support services to more than 560,000 people with HIV who have low incomes. The program focuses on tailoring approaches to best meet people with HIV and their communities where they are and addressing factors, like access to food, child care, housing, and transportation that directly affect the ability of patients to enter and stay in care.
In 2022, more than 142,000 women received services from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program—representing a quarter of all clients in the Program. Additionally, 89.9% of female clients receiving Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program medical care reached viral suppression—meaning they cannot sexually transmit HIV to other people and can live long, healthy lives. The science is clear that ‘undetectable = untransmittable,’ meaning that a fully suppressed and undetectable viral load prevents the transmission of HIV to others.
Today’s funding supporting critical HIV care for women through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program is part of HRSA’s comprehensive work to advance maternal health outcomes. HRSA’s Enhancing Maternal Health Initiative is focused on accelerating HRSA’s maternal health work to address maternal mortality and maternal health disparities in partnership with women, grant recipients, community organizations, and state and local health officials across the country.
To date, HRSA has hosted the following state convenings:
- In January 2024, HRSA launched the Enhancing Maternal Health Initiativein Washington, DC, joined by Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL), co-chair of the Black Maternal Health Caucus, to strengthen, expand, and accelerate HRSA’s maternal health work to address maternal mortality and maternal health disparities in partnership with mothers, grantees, community organizations, and state and local health officials across the country.
- In April 2024, HRSA hosted state convenings in St. Louis, Missouri (April 3), and Atlanta, Georgia (April 29), announcing $105 million in Healthy Start funding to support more than 100 community-based organizations in communities with high disparities to improve maternal and infant health outcomes.
- In June 2024, HRSA hosted state convenings in Flagstaff, Arizona (June 3) announcing $15 million to address maternal health needs and disparities in rural communities, and Bozeman, Montana (June 11), announcing the state’s eligibility this year for $5.4 million in federal funding for the HRSA Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program, an evidence-based initiative providing direct in-home services to expectant families and families with young children. Later in the month, HRSA awarded more than $11 million to 15 organizations to establish new residency programs in rural communities, including the first obstetrics and gynecology Rural Track Program.
- In September 2023, HRSA hosted a state convening in Raleigh, North Carolina, announcing nearly $90 million in awards to combat maternal mortality and improve maternal health, particularly in underserved communities.
For a full list of fiscal year 2024 Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Part D award recipients, visit here.
For more information about HRSA’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, visit http://ryanwhite.hrsa.gov.
