US Agency for International Development/Bureau for Global Health/Office of HIV/AIDS/Research Division, Microbicide Branch (GH/OHA/RES) is recruiting to fill the following position: Senior Advisor for Development of Biomedical HIV Prevention Technologies

For more information, please click here.

African Advocates Build Platforms and Networks to Push for HIV Prevention Access and Ethical Research Conduct in Africa

Morenike Oluwatoyin Folayan is an Associate Professor at Obafemi Awolowo University and Coordinator of the New HIV Vaccine and Microbicide Advocacy Society (NHVMAS) in Ife, Nigeria. This post first appeared in News Proof.

It was a beautiful sight to behold – the coming together of African advocates for HIV prevention access and conduct of biomedical HIV prevention research that respects the rights and welfare of participants. Acronyms like NHVMAS, AfNHI, VARG, AAVVi.net, APHA, WACIHealth were a delight to hear.

The New HIV Vaccine and Microbicide Advocacy Society (NHVMAS) was the oldest of the pack. It was formed by Advocates in Nigeria to push for the access of Nigerians to biomedical HIV prevention tools as soon as they were available way back in 2004. It is expanding its scope of work to West Africa and liasing with other networks to expand its work to Africa.

One of its chief liaison is WACIHealth. WACIHealth is focused on promoting increased domestic funding for health in Africa. It expanded its scope of work to include advocacy for HIV prevention commodity access, including promoting domestic investment for biomedical HIV prevention research, in 2011 just ahead of the Abuja+12 conference. Its partnership with NHVMAS led to the successful implementation of the biennial Biomedical HIV Prevention Forum since 2013. The forum serves as a platform for networking, sharing, providing updates and motivating for new action to promote access to HIV prevention tools and investment in ethical conduct of biomedical HIV prevention in Africa.

AfNHI is a birth product of the WACIHealth and NHVMAS with ample midwifery from AVAC. AfNHI envisons seeing Africa free of New HIV Infection. It is led by Africans for Africa and largely marries the vision of both WACIHealth and NHVMAS for the purpose of prevention new HIV infection in Africa. The network was launched during the 2017 Biomedical HIV Prevention pre-conference that held on the 3rd of December 2017 in Abidjan.

Also launched was the Vaccine Advocacy Resource Group (VARG). The Group is more global in outlook with members from beyond Africa. The lead of the Group – Tian Johnson – shared the goals and aspiration of the group at the meeting one of which was to be the voice of community advisory boards. The group is largely focused on promoting HIV vaccine research that respects the rights of study participants, and future end users. It tries to address the complex relationship between race, gender, rights and research. One of its most astounding work is the shift it accomplished with respect to PrEP access for all and by all study participants enrolled for HIV vaccine research in South Africa. This landmark shift in the context of designing and implementing HIV prevention research is historical and a huge success worthy of celebration – a proof that the VARG through its members – the VARGers – has the potential to make landmark changes in the way HIV prevention research is designed and implemented in Africa.

Also present at the meeting was Ntando Yola, a founding member of APHA – a group of HIV prevention advocates working in South Africa; and Prince Bahati, a member of AAVVi.net – a group of researchers and advocates who are set to shape the science of HIV vaccine research in Africa.

While it is so heartening to see the evolution of these groups on the continent the hosts the highest number of HIV prevention research, it was clear that more work needs to be done to breed new and many young advocates on the continent. You find the same set of people belonging to the groups. This comes with its challenges – how novel and distinct can the concepts and ideas of these groups be? How do they deal with conflicts of interest? How do the organisations handle the financial resources from funders?

The AVAC Fellowship and PxROAR Africa programmes and the NHVMAS LeNNiB Champion project may be one of the many ways to address this time-limited challenge. Let’s look forward optimistically to what these networks, platforms, organisations, programmes and project is set to do for HIV epidemic on the sub-Saharan continent.

Setting the Standard: New prevention trials in the era of oral PrEP

There’s a lot going on in the world of HIV prevention research right now. The HIV vaccine field has launched a second efficacy trial—HVTN 705/HPX 2008—investigating a mosaic vaccine that could protect against clades of HIV from around the world. HPTN 084, a second trial comparing injectable cabotegravir to oral PrEP as prevention, this one among women, also recently launched across Southern and East Africa. These two trials join five other efficacy trials currently looking to expand the range of new prevention options.

At AVAC, we came out with our annual AVAC Report on December 1–our attempt at trying to untangle the mixed messages that have been circulating, and offer solutions to confront them head on.

The report touches upon an issue that has gained a lot of attention: how participants might access oral PrEP as part of HIV prevention trials. In the midst of all this activity, we thought it necessary to dive deeper into this issue. It may seem simple: trial participants have the right to the highest standard of HIV prevention and care as part of participation. Both the WHO/UNAIDS ethics guidance and the UNAIDS/AVAC Good Participatory Practice Guidelines for biomedical HIV prevention trials clearly outline this point. But the ethics, trial design issues and the mechanisms by which interventions are provided as standard of care are quite complex. Opinions differ and politics abound.

On November 2-3, the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) held a summit in Cape Town to discuss this very issue of standard of care in prevention and treatment trials in Southern Africa. Before the summit, members of the Vaccine Advocacy Resource Group (VARG) convened an Imbizo—a South African term for a gathering led by a traditional leader to discuss policy issues—to develop their position on what standard of care should be in prevention trials, and the role that communities and advocates should have in these decisions. AVAC attended both the Imbizo and summit to support the VARG and engage in the discussions.

The topic and tensions–and, for the most part, the players—are not new. Standard of care, and particularly when and how to integrate new interventions into the prevention package, has been discussed and debated for nearly as long as the research itself. What is new is stakeholders across prevention research coming together to reach consensus on not only the package, but on how it should be delivered. Traditionally, these conversations have been siloed. Ethicists made decisions based on their guidelines, statisticians based on trial design considerations, researchers on national context and available resources. Excitingly, there is a way forward from the summit that integrates the different interests of a broad range stakeholders. This is Good Participatory Practice in action!

The summit arrived at some concrete next steps. The SAMRC and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC and home of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network) will establish a trial-agnostic fund to cover the cost of oral PrEP and HIV testing for HIV prevention trial participants for the duration of the trial; trial sites and their communities will decide how to provide PrEP at their site—and this will likely look different at different sites; sites will be encouraged to work with implementing partners to optimize PrEP access and to support adherence; and South Africa researchers will work with the National Department of Health’s (NDOH) PrEP Technical Working Group to support establishment of demonstration projects closer to trial sites.

These are commendable and essential steps—and advocates, AVAC included, will be following them closely. As we continue to reflect, these are the questions and issues that remain at the fore for AVAC.

How ‘standard’ can standard of care be?

Decisions about provision of oral PrEP in clinical trials as standard of prevention, in particular, are happening as PrEP is being rolled out with great variability in the very countries in which the trials are happening. This creates operational and ethical complications—as well as exciting opportunities. Is there undue incentive if participants are offered PrEP in the trial, but PrEP is not available in the communities? Are researchers filling for the role of government—which is responsible for setting and improving the national standards of care? Within the same country, South Africa being an example, availability of PrEP can differ even between trial sites, potentially creating inequality in how participants in the same trials and in the same country get access.

The consensus from the summit is that rigid standardization is likely impossible; community and trial context have to be taken into account. Some sites do not have the capacity to provide PrEP on site, while some do. Some are close in proximity to demonstration projects and implementation sites and can create efficient linkages, while others cannot. The agreement is that trial sites, in collaboration with communities and local and national advocates, will work together to define a model of provision that ensures all participants who want PrEP can access it. This variability presents an exciting opportunity for sites to be innovative, and for the field to learn from different models of PrEP provision in real time.

But researchers, regulators and communities must also monitor execution of the PrEP plans to ensure that variation does not lead to inequality in access—and stakeholders at all levels must be linked and coordinated so there is constant learning and more efficient collaboration.

How should coordination look different moving forward?

As we move from discussion to action, partnerships are a must. Meaningful coordination will be especially critical among:

  • Advocates and researchers: Civil society is key to the HIV response at national levels. They can, and should, play a concrete role in how to connect prevention programs to trials. As both the ethical guidance and the GPP guidelines highlight, advocates and civil society should have voice in these decisions, and it was good to see that happen in the summit. True engagement, though, doesn’t just mean one meeting. It means a comprehensive, transparent plan for the ongoing role for advocates.
  • Trial sites and governments: Science does not happen in a vacuum; national policies have great impact on trial conduct, and as we have seen with HVTN’s proactive and progressive stance with regards to treatment in HIV prevention trials in 2003—researchers can also have an impact on national policy. SAMRC has committed to working with the South African National Department of Health to set up demonstration projects closer to trial sites.
  • Trial sites and local and national PrEP implementation and research activities: If PrEP cannot be provided onsite, mechanisms must be developed to connect participants to PrEP delivery programs and initiatives. Data and existing capacity from the research and implementation activities should also inform messaging and enhance counseling and adherence support.
  • National advocates and community advisory boards (CABs): To ensure PrEP plans are developed with meaningful and inclusive engagement, that CABs need to be linked to national advocacy agendas, and national advocates, in turn, to the clinical trial objectives and activities. VARG members are planning to follow up with CABs and community engagement personnel to ensure coordination and synergy across sites and communities in South Africa.
  • Regulators, ethics review bodies and funders: The decisions from the summit stand to impact trials happening across Southern and East Africa and those being implemented by multiple clinical trial networks. To promote equity and ensure adherence to core ethical and scientific values, regulators, funders and ethicists need to be coordinated across geographies and networks.

So, what?

AVAC’s position, as we outlined in our new report, is clear: while one research organization, product developer or funder cannot reverse global inequities in HIV prevention or care, researchers have an obligation—and an opportunity—to try to narrow the equity gap. Trialists must grapple with PrEP provision in clinical trials head-on; they should work with program implementers and communities to develop, implement and assess high-quality prevention and treatment models for participants in research programs, and can encourage the development of sustainable community access to good quality, comprehensive HIV prevention.

The summit was a good starting place. As advocates we will be following the implementation of the plans set out by MRC and HVTN—we will be making sure that stakeholders involved and affected by the decisions (from advocates to regulators to trial site staff) are engaged in a sustained manner, that trial sites are communicating with PrEP programs in their contexts, and that there is equity in access across trial sites and across countries.

As we anticipate how the next generation of PrEP products and other HIV prevention modalities will further complicate standard of care conversations, it is partnerships and transparency that will make research smoother and more relevant to the real-world context.

Further resources

What Young Women Want

This letter comes from a group of young African women and reflects their HIV prevention research priorities. It was submitted to the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Division of AIDS (DAIDS) during the open-comment period concerning the structure and agenda for its next funding cycle (2021-2027).

Dear Dr. Carl Dieffenbach,

We are eight young women from South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe who were involved in recent consultations for planned HIV prevention trials with young women. We are interested in HIV prevention research because in each of our countries, young women are at high risk for HIV and we are so excited to hear that finally the needs of protecting young women are at the forefront of studies exploring new prevention tools. We understand that you and DAIDS are considering the research priorities for the next several years and we want to make sure that our voices are heard.

We are:
Sanele Ngulube – Zimbabwe, age 20
Irene Hware – Zimbabwe, age 22
Cleopatra Makura – Zimbabwe, age 21
Shakirah Green – Uganda, age 24
Catherine Nakkide – Uganda, age 22
Charity Twikirize – Uganda, age 22
Sinazo Peter – South Africa, age 24
Anelisa Madalane – South Africa, age 18

Please accept this as our feedback to you as you consider the research agenda that affects our future.

We have arranged our suggestions to you based on the themes we discussed together as a group. Here is what we want.

1) We want choice. The feeling that young women have when we know we have choices on how to protect ourselves, gives us power within and we get confident. The power and confidence means there are less chances that we become reckless about our sexual reproductive health. Choice frees us from slavery of any type because we are able to say yes or no, or even pick from a variety without being judged.

Most of all, we, young women, love experiencing new things and we love pushing boundaries. We want fun and exciting things and we shouldn’t be scared of using other methods because they are not of equal standard. Simply put, choice makes our life better.

2) We want products that are safe for our bodies and discrete. We, young women, are delicate, and you know how sensitive our vagina is. Not only that, but we have to fight social norms and cultures in our communities. We know that social norms should not dictate how we should take care of ourselves, but we also realise that most young women are oppressed by their partners, communities and culture.

We want something that will not attract people’s eyes and judgement. We need something that doesn’t require us to close our eyes, and clench our teeth when we use it. Again, it means we need different choices.

3) We want both systemic and non-systemic options. We have different opinions on what can work for us. Some of us like the idea of having to go to the clinic only once and be protected with a long-acting product—and it would be great if that could be for 6 months. Some of us like the convenience of systemic coverage. But others of us are nervous about side effects and the interaction with our sensitive bodies. We don’t want something that requires constant check-up. We want something that doesn’t stay in our bodies for a long time.

So, if you want to prioritise long-acting systemic methods, please make sure that it is easy and has no side effects for us. But remember our first point, that we want choices—we are all different and we want different tools at the table so we can choose what suits us best. We are all from different environments and cultures.

4) We want something other than injections. Some of us are okay with injections, but for others, injections don’t work and we want something we can take without pain. Some of us think twice about even going to the hospital when we are sick because we are scared of injections. Also, injections mean going to a clinic—and we have to deal with judgmental nurses who think we are too young for sex.

A visit to the clinic is really something else. So, if you plan on only giving us injections, it is not okay with us. We are not all good with the injections—please ensure that the research gives us something else too.

5) We want the ring: We love the idea of the ring. You insert it and you are done. It is like our secret weapon, painless but protective. We would use it because it’s in and doesn’t bother us for a while, and we can watch out for ourselves. We would even love the ring more if you added a contraceptive. We understand that DAIDS is thinking not to put more research into other forms of rings like this and we don’t think that’s a good idea. We have seen it works for some women and that’s okay that it doesn’t work for all because it’s another tool, another choice.

We want to thank you for the research you and your team have done. Thank you for the time you have put in and done for us, so far. However, we want you to know that we want more and we need more from you. We want to challenge you to do more for us and we want you to involve us more. We don’t want to be terrified of the products we are using (and please, if you come up with a new product, make it smell good). We don’t want side effects. And please, don’t forget about the potentially expensive costs of these methods. Most of all, we want products that will be safe and protect us as much as possible.

We hope our views will be heard and considered because we don’t want our issues to go unnoticed. We would love if—in the future—we were asked first about our needs instead of just coming with the products researchers think will be best and then asking us if we would use them. There is a South African saying, “it’s better to hear it from the horse’s mouth.”

—Sanele, Charity, Irene, Cleo, Shakirah, Catherine, Sinazo and Anelisa

New Video Series: Lessons from the field on oral PrEP introduction

AVAC is pleased to share a new series of videos on the introduction of daily oral PrEP in Kenya—Lessons from the Field. The series features lessons on how to fit this newer prevention option into the lives of people who need it through case studies of issues related to supporting Kenyan women who choose to take daily oral PrEP.

Check out the videos here.

A collaboration with LVCT Health in Kenya and AVAC, through the USAID-funded OPTIONS Consortium, this series was filmed at several sites in Kenya where LVCT Health offers oral PrEP to populations at risk of HIV. Each film highlights a different theme or challenge that emerged as PrEP rolled out, and tells the story of how the project responded:

In these videos, women enrolled in LVCT’s oral PrEP project share their experiences and program staff describe tactics they developed to address these issues, such as hotlines, enhanced counseling and support, and engagement with the community.

This series is intended for PrEP stakeholders, including program implementers, policy makers, civil society, advocates and people considering PrEP in Kenya and other countries. Taken together, the full series will increase understanding of specific barriers to delivering oral PrEP and show successful strategies to help people start oral PrEP and use it correctly and consistently.

Check them out at PrEPwatch.org and please tell us what you think at [email protected]!

World AIDS Day Must-Read: AVAC’s annual report untangles mixed messages

On the eve of World AIDS Day, AVAC is excited to share our annual “state of the field” report on biomedical prevention research and implementation. AVAC Report 2017: Mixed Messages and How to Untangle Them is straight talk about today’s complex context for HIV prevention.

Read this report if, in recent months you’ve wondered:

    Report 2017 Cover

  • What does it mean when there’s more rhetorical support than ever before for primary prevention for HIV-negative individuals—but no more money?
  • How can there be talk of being “on the path to epidemic control” while human rights remain in shambles in many places, and rates of HIV diagnoses and deaths climb in others?
  • How can scientists be so sure they know what women (or anyone at risk of HIV) want, without doing research to find out?

This year’s report offers answers, in the form of analysis and recommendations for change. We hope you’ll read it and, more importantly, join us in action to make the recommendations a reality.

Download AVAC Report 2017

The report also provides valuable context for some of today’s exciting developments, including the launch of two efficacy trials: HPTN 084, which is evaluating a long-acting injectable antiretroviral for prevention in women in sub-Saharan Africa; and HVTN 705/HPX2008, a vaccine trial of a novel “mosaic” strategy that might block multiple viral strains. These two studies aim to enroll nearly 6,000 women in East and Southern Africa.

Both trials are planned to run through 2022; both could pave the way for valuable new long-acting prevention options. As the report describes, now is the time to structure research networks and agendas, oral PrEP programs and comprehensive approaches to HIV prevention in such a way that they lay the groundwork for strategies like those being tested in these trials. At the same time, we cannot assume these strategies will solve issues posed by user-dependent methods like condoms, oral PrEP and more.

New data released yesterday from the Rakai Health Sciences Program in Uganda offer a glimpse of what the future could hold. Tracked since 1999, the latest data from the Rakai cohort show a 42 percent drop in HIV incidence over the past seven years, primarily attributed to soaring rates of ART and VMMC coverage in the population.

Opinionated, informative and filled with useful graphics, AVAC Report 2017 helps put these developments on clinical trials and combination prevention packages in context, identifying what has to happen, who should do it and how to track progress along the way.

New HIV Prevention Trials Hold Promise for New Prevention Options for Women

Just ahead of another World AIDS Day, two new efficacy trials officially launched in Africa today with the potential of additional HIV prevention methods in the future.

The two trials – one studying a new vaccine strategy from Janssen/Johnson & Johnson that could protect against multiple strains of HIV and the other with an injectable antiretroviral PrEP strategy every two months from ViiV/GSK – join five other efficacy trials that are hoped to expand the options available to meet the varied needs women and men have for HIV prevention over the course of their lives.

“It is unprecedented to have so much diverse activity in the field, with nearly 25,000 trial participants to be enrolled across all of these trials around the world. As we commemorate World AIDS Day, it’s important to pause and be thankful for the many thousands of women and men around the world who have stepped up to volunteer for clinical trials that have given us the means to respond to this epidemic, in whose footsteps the 6,000 African women who will take part in these two new trials now follow,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC, a global HIV prevention organization.

“Equally unprecedented is the level of pharmaceutical engagement within these trial partnerships. While both of these new trials are jointly funded by the US National Institutes of Health and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the two product developers are active financial partners,” said Warren. “We hope that the examples of ViiV and Janssen will prompt additional and sustainable industrial partnerships in HIV prevention research.”

“These new trials come at one of the most dynamic times for HIV prevention. There are more trials of new concepts; more programs beginning to deliver daily oral PrEP; a vaginal ring going through regulatory review; record numbers of people on HIV treatment; new guidelines reflecting the scientific evidence behind undetectable = untransmittable; and real-world evidence from Uganda that scaling up treatment and voluntary medical male circumcision can reduce new HIV infection at a population level,” said Warren.

This dynamism also makes the field far more complex than ever before, as these multiple signs of progress co-exist and compete for resources. Later today, AVAC will be releasing its annual “state of the field” report—Mixed Messages and How to Untangle Them—which addresses these realities. The report will be available online at www.avac.org/report2017.

“Both new trials could pave the way for valuable new long-acting prevention options—in addition to, not instead of, the interventions we have today. As the AVAC Report describes, now is the time to structure research agendas and networks, oral PrEP programs and comprehensive approaches to HIV prevention in such a way that they lay the groundwork for strategies like those being tested in these trials,” Warren said.

ICASA 2017: A conference guide to participating on-site and virtually

The 19th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA 2017) is coming right up, December 4-9 in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire. Find details below on select events related to biomedical HIV prevention research and implementation as well as how to follow the conference from afar.

The theme for ICASA’s biennial gathering in 2017 is Africa: Ending AIDS-delivering differently, and AVAC will be there along with many of our partners participating in sessions both before and during the conference. There are several ways you can link to HIV prevention research and rollout-related events—both in-person and from afar:

ICASA 2017 HIV Prevention Research Roadmap
Amidst a wide range of topics that will be covered at the conference (full program available here), we have pulled together a roadmap of select sessions that may be of interest to those tracking biomedical prevention research and rollout. Download as a PDF or XLS file and please let us know of any other related events that should be added to the roadmap. And on arrival, be sure to check out the various Networking Zone schedules in the Global Village for more great programming on prevention and more!

Biomedical HIV Prevention Forum (BHPF) Pre-conference Session
Hosted by the New HIV Vaccine and Microbicide Advocacy Society (NHVMAS), in collaboration with a number of partners including WACI Health and the Society for AIDS in Africa (SAA), this session will explore data trends in Africa, hot topics in prevention research and African leadership in prevention research. Sunday, 3 December from 8:00 to 17:00 at the Sofitel Abidjan Hotel Ivoire. See the BHPF website for more information.

Key Population Pre-conference Session
Hosted by African Men for Sexual and Health Rights (AMSHeR), African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA), Gender Dynamix/Southern Africa Trans Forum, the Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL) and other networks of key populations (KP), the theme for this pre-conference session is Onto the African Map: Youth Key Populations and HIV. Saturday, 2 December and Sunday, 3 December from 9:00 to 17:00 each day. For more information go here or contact [email protected].

Satellite Session
WHO and the OPTIONS Consortium is sponsoring a session titled, Making the Case for PrEP for Women: What we know and experiences to date to review what we know and have learned about delivering oral PrEP to women, in particular adolescent girls and young women. Presenters will review the evidence, the status of oral PrEP rollout for women, and opportunities for oral PrEP delivery for women through the private sector. A facilitated panel with audience discussion will explore the challenges, innovative solutions and future direction for Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Tuesday, 5 December from 12:45 to 14:15 at the Chandelier Room, Sofitel Abidjan Hotel Ivoire.

Satellite Session
Health GAP and AVAC are hosting a workshop on PEPFAR’s Country Operational Plan (COP) process. Advocates will learn about changes to the 2018 process, explore strategies to increase PEPFAR investment in community priorities, and get an introduction to tools for analyzing PEPFAR data. Wednesday, 6 December at the Hotel Palm Club from 10:45 to 13:15.

ICASA on Social Media
Follow the conference in real-time on social media by following us on Twitter and Facebook — and using the official conference hashtag #ICASA2017.

New Episode of Px Pulse, AVAC’s New Podcast Series

We are excited to share with you our new episode of Px Pulse, AVAC’s podcast covering vital topics in HIV prevention research. Find it at avac.org/px-pulse or listen on iTunes!

This month Px Pulse looks at the standard of care in HIV prevention trials in the era of oral PrEP. This issue has been discussed and hotly debated lately—and for good reason: It’s complicated. In this episode, we take you deeper into this pressing issue.

Around the world, a number of large clinical trials, ongoing and planned, are testing new HIV prevention interventions. Many of these trials are happening in a few regions of Southern Africa. In these same areas, oral PrEP—a proven and highly effective prevention method—is rolling out and reaching some places and populations better than others. The obligation of researchers to provide oral PrEP to participants in HIV prevention trials, and precisely how they should do so, was the focus of a summit convened by the South African Medical Research Council in October in Cape Town.

In this episode, you’ll hear veteran advocate voices, Tian Johnson and Yvette Raphael, challenge the thinking that providing oral PrEP in trials can be separate from national rollout. They call on researchers to partner with advocates so that what happens at the trial site can be integrated with the national PrEP agenda. Director of Research at Wits RHI Sinead Delany-Moretlwe discusses the future of trial design and research, touching on how the prevention options of tomorrow will further complicate these questions.

Don’t miss it—and do let us know what you think!

New Px Wire: AVAC recommendations on future DAIDS network restructuring

AVAC’s newest issue of Px Wire is coming to you at a critical moment. We’re sharing our recommendations to the US National Institutes of Health’s Division of AIDS (DAIDS), which is in the final days of accepting comments before it begins the process of restructuring the clinical trials networks responsible for a large share of the world’s HIV research.

Download the new issue of Px Wire.

In Px Wire, we preview part of the AVAC Report 2017, which includes a set of recommendations and priorities that keep funding and research crossing-cutting, strategic and responsive to people’s real-world needs.

Check out the infographic, which provides a visual history of the DAIDS Networks and a look at what’s proposed for the next funding cycle.

And keep a look out for the full AVAC Report, our annual analysis of the state of the field, coming later this month. This year’s theme, Mixed Messages, untangles a web of potentially contradictory and confusing debates coming to the fore now that advances in prevention are creating new opportunities, challenges and complexity.