Progress and Priorities to End the HIV Epidemic by 2030: Combined Lessons From 120 US Implementation Research Projects

Five years into the US national Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) plan, it is a critical time to examine what has been learned and what still needs to be studied to achieve its 2030 goals of reducing new HIV infections by 90%. While much has already been gained from the 250+ individual National Institutes of Health-funded implementation research projects and the capacity building provided by the Implementation Science Coordination Initiative (ISCI) and 9 regional consultation hubs (RCHs), identifying generalizable implementation science lessons requires the synthesis of findings across multiple sites, studies, and/or contexts. This supplemental issue of JAIDS emphasizes collaborative papers that summarize shared HIV implementation knowledge from multiple EHE-funded research projects. The 24 papers herein represent work from 111 EHE supplement projects and 7 R01s happening in 40 EHE priority jurisdictions, as well as from ISCI, all RCHs, and federal partners. We identified the following 4 overarching themes: infrastructure for HIV implementation research, methods for conducting HIV implementation research with specific communities, implementation strategies to help deliver HIV-related interventions, and training in implementation science for the HIV workforce. Insights shared in this issue provide a clear pathway for the next phase of EHE, in which research infrastructure must remain robust, workforce investments must prioritize sustainability, and partnerships must continue to bridge local innovation with systemic change.