Secretary's Minority AIDS Initiative Fund

What Is SMAIF?

The HHS Secretary’s Minority AIDS Initiative Fund (SMAIF) was established by Congress in 1999 as part of the Minority AIDS Initiative in response to growing concern about the disproportionate impact of HIV and AIDS on racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. SMAIF provides more than $50 million each year to support a wide range of activities that are designed to reduce new HIV infections, improve HIV-related health outcomes, and reduce HIV-related health disparities in racial and ethnic minority communities.

The projects supported by SMAIF promote innovation, address critical emerging issues, and have established new collaborations across Federal agencies. These projects are significant in that they are designed to complement – and not duplicate – other HIV prevention and care activities and to create lasting changes in Federal programs that improve the quality, efficiency and impact of HIV programs that serve racial and ethnic minorities.

SMAIF funds are allocated for cross-agency demonstration initiatives and other projects to test innovative strategies and solutions, provide outreach, education, and technical assistance to:

Implement best practices to address long standing and critical emerging issues in order to improve HIV prevention and care for the highest-risk racial and ethnic minorities
Expand the capacity of the HIV prevention and care workforce to address the needs of the highest-risk racial and ethnic minorities
Improve access to HIV prevention and care services for underserved racial and ethnic minorities who otherwise would have only very limited access to HIV services
Provide new avenues for agencies to work together and break down silos in HIV prevention and care programs for racial and ethnic minorities
Promote lasting changes across the Federal HIV prevention and care portfolio that improve HIV-related outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities

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