The Role of Prevention in the NIH HIV/AIDS Research Portfolio, 2012-2016

Introduction: The HIV epidemic continues to pose a significant public health threat to the world’s population. According to UNAIDS estimates, approximately 1.8 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2016. Here in the US, the CDC estimates that there were 37,600 new HIV infections in 2014. These HIV incidence estimates represent progress in preventing new HIV infections, but additional work remains to reach the UNAIDS 90/90/90 treatment as prevention target that by 2020: 90% of people living with HIV will know their HIV serostatus, 90% of people living with HIV will be on continuous antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 90% of those receiving ART will achieve viral suppression (http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/909090). NIH continues to be on the forefront of supporting research seeking to help end the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The current study characterizes the NIH HIV/AIDS prevention research portfolio and identifies opportunities for additional investment in the research priority areas outlined in the FY 2018 Trans-NIH Plan for HIV-Related Research.

Methods: The NIH Office of Disease Prevention (ODP) has recently established a systematic approach to classify the prevention research funded by NIH grants. The ODP taxonomy classifies grants by their focus on 42 different health condition categories as indicated by the studies’ rationale, exposures, and outcomes. HIV/AIDS research is classified under the infectious disease category. Additional characterizations are made on a grant’s study population, research design, and type of prevention (if any). The sample of grants under analysis in this study was obtained first by compiling the NIH prevention grants funded between FY 2012-2016 that were a) classified with the infectious disease category and b) contained the NIH Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization Process (RCDC) HIV/AIDS code (RCDC codes were obtained from an internal NIH grant database). Second, the grants’ titles and abstracts were reviewed and those not related to preventing HIV acquisition and transmission were removed.

Results: We will present preliminary results on the characterization of the FY 2012-2016 NIH HIV/AIDS prevention research portfolio.

Conclusions: Analysis of this research portfolio will inform NIH investments that will support the research studies that will hopefully improve public health and contribute to the end of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.