Provision of Salary Support for Additional Health Care Workers to Support Ministry of Health to Sustain Epidemic Control in Malawi under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) | CDC RFA GH22 2251

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA GH22 2251

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, released this discretionary funding opportunity (CDC RFA GH22 2251) as a cooperative agreement to help Malawi sustain HIV epidemic control under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The program is built around strengthening the Ministry of Health's ability to maintain HIV gains over the long term by filling critical health workforce gaps and improving how districts manage, oversee, and use resources and data for HIV programming.

Funding for the first year is projected at approximately USD 2,500,000, depending on availability of funds, with one award expected. Notably, the posted Year 1 award ceiling is listed as "0 (none)," which typically signals that CDC is not setting a fixed upper limit per application in the notice itself, even though an overall Year 1 funding amount is anticipated. Applications were due February 25, 2022, by 11:59 pm Eastern Time. The opportunity is listed under CFDA 93.067, and eligibility is described as unrestricted, meaning a wide range of organizations could apply unless additional eligibility conditions were specified elsewhere in the full announcement.

The work has two main objectives. First, the recipient is expected to provide critical human resources support to Malawi's Ministry of Health by recruiting and deploying additional health care workers to support HIV service delivery in five PEPFAR high-burden districts. These health care workers are to be employed under Malawi Government working conditions, including government-aligned salaries and supervision arrangements, which is meant to ensure the staff are integrated into existing systems rather than operating as a parallel workforce. Second, the project aims to improve governance and leadership at the district level, recognizing that long-term epidemic control depends not only on clinical staffing but also on strong local management and decision-making structures.

A major operational component is salary support for the recruited health care workers in the targeted districts, paired with a human resources for health (HRH) analysis. That HRH analysis is intended to guide a more equitable distribution of health workers across districts, helping the Ministry of Health understand where the most urgent gaps are, how staffing patterns affect service coverage, and what redistribution or hiring strategies could strengthen overall performance. By combining immediate staffing support with an analytic approach to workforce planning, the opportunity emphasizes both short-term continuity of HIV services and longer-term workforce strategy.

The notice also stresses alignment and transition planning. The recipient is expected to ensure PEPFAR priorities and staffing investments are closely aligned with Ministry of Health needs and systems to make transition easier when the project ends. This reflects Malawi's status as having reached epidemic control, where the core challenge shifts from rapid scale-up to sustaining progress. In that context, the goal is to increase local capacity so that district health offices and the Ministry of Health can manage the HIV program with less reliance on external support over time.

Beyond staffing, the opportunity places clear emphasis on strengthening district-level management functions that underpin sustainability. The recipient is expected to focus on improving financial management systems at district level, strengthening program monitoring and evaluation, and building routine data use for planning and implementation. In practical terms, this means supporting districts to better track and manage funds, monitor program performance with reliable indicators, identify gaps quickly (for example, in treatment continuity or testing coverage), and use data to make operational decisions that keep HIV services effective and resilient.

Overall, this grant opportunity is designed as a targeted investment to help Malawi maintain epidemic control by reinforcing the district health system where day-to-day HIV program execution happens: adding and supporting frontline staff in the highest-burden districts while also upgrading the management, leadership, and data-driven governance needed to sustain results after donor-funded support tapers.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control - CGH in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Provision of Salary Support for Additional Health Care Workers to Support Ministry of Health to Sustain Epidemic Control in Malawi under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.067.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 27, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 25, 2022 Electronically submitted applications must be submitted no later than 1159 pm ET on the listed application due date.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for CDC RFA GH22 2251

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