ICAP at Columbia University is collaborating with Ministry of Health in Tanzania to build the competence and confidence of frontline HCW to safely identify, report and support people with COVID-19, implement effective infection prevention and control (IPC) activities, and serve as a trusted source of reliable information for communities impacted by the pandemic. This project is supported with funding from Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL).

The HIV Coverage, Quality, and Impact Network (CQUIN) is a multi-country learning network designed to accelerate the implementation of high-quality differentiated service delivery for HIV. CQUIN’s goal is to increase the number of people living with HIV initiating and sustaining highly effective HIV treatment with sustained viral suppression.

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Find out more at cquin.icap.columbia.edu

This project provides comprehensive, community-based HIV Prevention, Linkage and Retention Services for Key Populations and Adolescent Girls and Young Women in eight regions across Tanzania including Dar es Salaam, Pwani, Mwanza, Mara, Simiyu, Kigoma, Kagera and Geita. The goal of the project is to accelerate, expand, and improve the quality of comprehensive community-based HIV prevention services to key and vulnerable populations (KVP) and priority populations (PP) to achieve epidemic control. KVP include groups with elevated behavioral risk for HIV, comprising of female sex workers (FSW), people who inject drugs (PWID), and men who have sex with men (MSM). Priority populations include vulnerable adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) aged 15 to 29 years. ICAP at Columbia University is collaborating with the Government of Tanzania at national, regional, district and community levels and collaborates with HIV stakeholders including implementing partners, healthcare providers and community volunteers to deliver services to intended beneficiaries. This project is supported with funding from PEPFAR through the CDC.

ICAP at Columbia (ICAP) in partnership with CDC’s International Infection Control Program is collaborating with the Ministry of Health in Tanzania to launch a regional community of practice to rapidly enhance IPC at scale. The goal is to reduce morbidity and mortality by preventing COVID-19 and healthcare-associated infections in low-resource settings. The project aims to enhance the capacity of hospital-based IPC Focal Points to support compliance with IPC standards throughout their facilities by using a regional approach. This project is funded by CDC.

ICAP provided support in the following areas:

• Helped accelerate the Children's HIV/AIDS Treatment (ACT) Initiative by strengthening pediatric provider-initiated HIV testing and counseling implementation and mentorship systems.
• Supported an evaluation of population-level outcomes of an intensified, geographically targeted combination HIV prevention program in Bukoba.
• Supported an evaluation on the feasibility and effectiveness of the ECHO tele mentoring model (Project ECHO™)
• Conducted community-based outreach for key populations, including female sex workers, men who have sex with men (MSM), and adolescent girls and young women.

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Find out more on the Global Technical Assistance Project Page

ICAP collaborated with the MOHSW and Zanzibar to build capacity to expand HIV prevention, care, and treatment services at all levels of the health system, including psychosocial support to people living with HIV, VMMC and HIV prevention for key populations (people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, and sex workers). ICAP partnered with a network of regional hospitals, laboratories, and primary health facilities in Kagera and Mwanza regions to integrate effective and sustainable services. (funded by the CDC)

Read the VMMC project brief here

Columbia University’s role in implementing PEPFAR began in 2003, when it received funding from the Global AIDS Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under the University Technical Assistance Projects (UTAP) to support the development of important components of national HIV programs, including treatment protocols and training. In 2004, ICAP was founded and was awarded a new cooperative agreement from CDC under the PEPFAR framework, the Track 1.0 funding mechanism, to provide comprehensive HIV care and treatment in five countries: Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, and Tanzania, with programming in Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, and Nigeria subsequently added. This initiative, the Multicountry Columbia Antiretroviral Program (MCAP), rapidly expanded programs for HIV care and ART by promoting early diagnosis of HIV infection, maintaining the health of those living with HIV, and preventing further transmission of HIV within the community. MCAP programming between 2004 and 2012, in addition to being focused on rapidly scaling up care and treatment in partnership with host-country governments, also emphasized the full continuum of HIV-related services, continued capacity building and health systems strengthening, and transition of operations to host governments and local nongovernmental organizations

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Find the MCAP End-of-Project Reports here.

The MTCT-Plus Initiative, the world’s first multi-country HIV treatment program, aimed to demonstrate to a disbelieving world that it was possible to provide care and antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in resource-limited settings, using programs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) as an entry point. In December 2003, the MTCT-Plus Secretariat in New York (the precursor to ICAP, headed by ICAP’s Wafaa El-Sadr and Elaine Abrams) received its first grant from the new President’s Emergency Program For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Four years later, the MTCT-Plus Initiative of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health was providing HIV care and treatment for nearly 17,000 people at 14 sites in nine countries. MTCT-Plus received expansion funding from USAID in 2003 and 2006. By 2010, ICAP had provided HIV care and treatment to more than one million people.

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Find the MTCT-Plus and MTCT-Plus Expansion reports here.

ICAP provided technical assistance for the Ministry of Health to conduct the Tanzania Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (THIS) survey to assess HIV prevalence, incidence, and access to HIV prevention, care, and treatment services. The survey included household-based interviews and HIV counseling and testing for adults and children. Survey findings were used to assess the impact of Tanzania’s HIV response at the national level, and helped guide and target future investment and programs.

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• THIS Summary Sheet 
• THIS Final Report

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Find out more at phia.icap.columbia.edu

 

ICAP provided technical assistance to support implementation of male circumcision (VMMC) services as part of a comprehensive package of HIV prevention activities in Kagera Region, including 20 islands in Lake Victoria. ICAP worked directly with Kagera Regional Hospital, Rubya Designated District Hospital, and with the Muleba District. Through the national Technical Working Group on VMMC, ICAP assisted with the development of assessment tools for monitoring and evaluation, and materials for information, education and communication. (funded by PEPFAR through the CDC)

In September 2002, the Mailman School of Public Health (MSPH) at Columbia University (CU) entered into a Cooperative Agreement with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for the University Technical Assistance Projects (UTAP) in Support of the Global HIV/AIDS Program. Situated within ICAP, UTAP was originally envisioned as a single-country program for the provision of technical assistance, but rapidly grew to include long-term and short-term technical and administrative assistance to the national responses to HIV/AIDS in five countries: Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia. As the original UTAP project drew to a close and PEPFAR moved into its second phase—focused on sustainability—ICAP entered into several, follow-on Cooperative Agreements, called UTAP-2. Four were country-focused (in Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Swaziland, and Tanzania) and the fifth—UTAP-2 Atlanta—became a flexible mechanism for providing a wide range of technical assistance and other support to PEPFAR countries. After beginning in 2009 as a means to help CDC conduct surveillance training more efficiently through distance education, UTAP-2 Atlanta grew over the next six and a half years to comprise 11 distinct projects addressing needs and gaps in the HIV response and answering important research questions to inform the response going forward.

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Find all UTAP and UTAP-2 resources here.