[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 3, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22868-22870]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-8749]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[Program Announcement AA010]


HIV Prevention and Care for Refugees and Host Populations in 
Turkana District, North Western Kenya; Notice of Intent To Fund Single 
Eligibility Award

A. Purpose

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces the 
intent to fund fiscal year (FY) 2005 funds for a cooperative agreement 
program to provide a comprehensive program for HIV prevention and care 
for refugees,

[[Page 22869]]

humanitarian aid workers, and host populations in northwestern Kenya. 
This program should include the operation of centers for voluntary 
counseling and HIV testing in the Kakuma Refugee Camp, Lokichoggio, and 
Kalokol.
    The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number for this program 
is 93.067.

B. Eligible Applicant

    Assistance will be provided only to the International Rescue 
Committee (IRC) Kenya. No other applications are solicited, for the 
following reasons:

Unique Ability

    International Rescue Committee has 12 years of experience in 
providing care to refugees and host populations in Kenya.
    IRC Kenya has been present in Kakuma refugee camp since its 
creation in 1992, and IRC Kenya has provided all of the medical care 
for the entire population of over 90,000 refugees in the Kakuma refugee 
camp since 1997, with funding from the U.S. State Department Bureau for 
Population, Refugees, and Migration (BPRM), United Nations High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and other donors. No agency can work 
in the Kakuma camp without the approval of UNHCR and the Government of 
Kenya (GOK) Ministry of Home Affairs, and IRC is the only agency, which 
has been given the mandate to provide medical and public health 
services in Kakuma.
    HIV services in Kakuma camp are integrated into a broader primary 
care context, which results in: (a) Enhanced referral links that in 
turn increase program coverage (from curative to home based care and 
vice versa, from voluntary counseling and testing (VCT)/prevention of 
mother to child transmission (PMTCT) to curative, TB to curative, 
etc.); (b) improved achievement of the continuum of care goals that are 
the result of a coordinated system that follows patients from the 
moment of diagnosis to home based care through a care clinic; and (c) 
streamlined program management. It would not be appropriate for a 
different organization to provide HIV prevention and care in this 
unique setting as it is more efficient for this HIV component to be 
implemented in the context of the curative and preventive health care 
services IRC provides in the camp.
    In addition, IRC has the infrastructure, skills base and knowledge 
of the region, which no other agency in the Turkana District in the 
health care sector has obtained. With IRC as implementing agency it 
would ensure that both maintaining and expanding on HIV/AIDS services 
in the district programs would have cohesion, greater context and 
cultural knowledge and a larger pool of resources.

Demonstrated Performance

    IRC has the ability to plan, manage and implement programs in this 
remote area quickly and successfully.
    In FY01, CDC awarded IRC a cooperative agreement through program 
announcement 00134--Leadership and Investment in Fighting an epidemic 
(LIFE) Global AIDS Program. With an annual award of $300,000, IRC has 
developed a comprehensive HIV prevention and care program in the Kakuma 
camp, which includes two VCT centers and PMCT services in the camp 
hospital. In FY04, with the United States President's Emergency Plan 
for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Track 1.5 funding, IRC established a VCT 
center in Lokichoggio, the transit point for Operation Lifeline Sudan. 
This center is now providing HIV prevention services to refugees, 
humanitarian aid workers flying into southern Sudan, and the local 
Turkana population. IRC did not actually receive the Track 1.5 funding 
until August 6, 2004, but in spite of these delays, VCT services were 
initiated in Lokichoggio by the end of August 2004. No HIV prevention 
or care services now exist in Kalokol but IRC has been asked by the 
Turkana District Medical Office to extend the prevention and care model 
used in Kakuma and Lokichoggio to this remote community. Experience in 
program implementation both in Kakuma and Lokichoggio puts IRC in a 
unique position to apply the lessons learned to Kalokol, which has many 
similar characteristics to Lokichoggio and is also part of Turkana 
district, a very remote and unique area of Kenya.
    IRC has established good relationships with both the Government of 
Kenya and local organizations working in these communities and 
therefore can implement this program efficiently and effectively. There 
is no other organization in Kakuma with the capacity to implement this 
complex program, and there are no other organizations currently working 
in HIV prevention for both humanitarian aid workers and the host 
Turkana population in Lokichoggio and Kalokol.

Cost-Efficiency

    This program will be implemented in the context of the broader 
medical and public health services provided by IRC in the Kakuma 
refugee camp, with funding from the United States Government (USG) and 
UNHCR. The State Department BPRM has indicated a commitment to continue 
this support to IRC in 2005. A cooperative agreement between IRC and 
HHS/CDC for the HIV component of the public health program is much more 
cost efficient than having one agency provide the medical and public 
health services and a different agency provide the HIV specific 
services. In addition, HHS/CDC providing funding to IRC allows for good 
inter-agency coordination between the State Department BPRM and HHS/CDC 
and between the USG and other donors, especially UNHCR.
    Implementing a coordinated and comprehensive HIV/AIDS program in 
these three communities operated by the same organization allows for 
economies of scale and encourages the development of a network of 
services for these currently under-served populations. Finally, because 
IRC has a health and administrative infrastructure in Kakuma and 
Lokichoggio, funded by other donors, this HIV program can be 
implemented more economically than an agency, which would have to 
establish new and duplicative infrastructures in these remote and 
unique settings.

C. Funding

    Approximately $600,000 is available in FY 2005 to fund this award. 
It is expected that the award will begin on or before July 1, 2005, and 
will be made for a 12-month budget period within a project period of up 
to five years. Funding estimates may change.

D. Where To Obtain Additional Information

    For general comments or questions about this announcement, contact:

Technical Information Management, CDC Procurement and Grants Office, 
2920 Brandywine Road, Atlanta, GA 30341-4146, Telephone: 770-488-2700.
    For program technical assistance, contact:

Elizabeth Marum, Ph.D., Project Officer, Global Aids Program [GAP], 
Kenya Country Team, National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention, 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], P.O. Box 606 Village 
Market, Nairobi, Kenya, Telephone: 254-20-271-3008, E-mail: 
[email protected].
    For budget assistance, contact:

Diane Flournoy, Contract Specialist, CDC Procurement and Grants Office, 
2920 Brandywine Road, Atlanta, GA 30341, Telephone: 770-488-2072, E-
mail: [email protected].


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    Dated: April 26, 2005.
William P. Nichols,
Acting Director, Procurement and Grants Office, Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 05-8749 Filed 5-2-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P