As scientific progress accelerates, AVAC’s cure programs are ensuring communities remain at the center of the agenda. Through initiatives like the US HIV Cure Academy, global advocacy convenings and community-led storytelling, AVAC is equipping advocates with the knowledge and networks needed to shape the future of HIV cure research and bridge the gap between complex science and the communities most impacted by HIV. Read on for exciting updates and AVAC’s involvement in HIV cure research.
The 2026 US Cure Academy: Where science and community meet
The 2026 US HIV Cure Academy brought together 20 advocates and 11 researchers and cure experts from across the US for three days of shared learning, collaboration and hope in Durham, North Carolina. Hosted by AVAC, The Well Project and the Martin Delaney Collaboratories, the Academy equipped participants with the latest updates in HIV cure research while strengthening their ability to translate complex science into meaningful community engagement and advocacy.
Through candid dialogue, hands-on learning and lasting connections, the Academy highlighted the essential role of community partnerships in advancing ethical, inclusive and people-centered HIV cure research. The US Cure Academy series started in 2025 and is meant to continue annually, to build a strong cadre of advocates to help guide cure research according to community priorities.
AVAC also partners with the International AIDS Society (IAS) on the Advocacy-For-Cure Academy international program that prepares the next generation of cure advocates globally to fight effectively for research that matters to the people who are most impacted by HIV.
BeCURE Brings HIV Cure Research Closer to Community
AVAC’s Jessica Salzwedel spoke about person-centered care at KURE — an event that brought community and researchers together in Germany — ahead of the opening of the Berlin Center for HIV Cure (BeCURE). Building on Berlin’s unique legacy as home of the first documented HIV cured patient, BeCURE is a research hub dedicated to advancing innovative strategies to cure HIV. “Something amazing is happening in Berlin”, said Jessica. “Christian Gaebler and his team, including Tomer Einav, are bringing cure to the people.”
Advancing the Vision for HIV Cure Research in Cameroon
AVAC attended an HIV cure agenda-setting workshop in Cameroon in May, building on discussions from 2025. Cameroon has emerged as a growing leader in HIV cure research in West Africa, fueled by significant recent investments in basic science and a rapidly expanding research landscape.
Hosted by the Cameroon government and supported by the African HIV Cure Consortium (AHCC), the workshop brought together the Ministry of Research, researchers, ethics experts and community members to identify immediate priorities and develop goals for advancing HIV cure research in the country over the next three to five years. The workshop helped lay the foundation for a coordinated national HIV cure strategy rooted in cross-sector collaboration and community engagement.
AVAC also supported Advocacy-For-A-Cure Academy Cure alumni Laurel Kelvine Tchanida to host a community forum alongside the workshop. The meeting focused on communication and advocacy strategies to tell the story of HIV cure and advance the scientific agenda.
HIV cure advocate and Advocacy-For-A-Cure Academy alumni Doreen Moraa spoke with some of the top HIV cure researchers at CROI 2026 to discuss takeaways from the conference, what’s next for HIV cure and what HIV cure means to them. In her latest video, Dr. Katie Barr unpacks the science and emphasizes the need for community to be at the center of it all. Doreen’s four-part CROI 2026 video series can be found on her YouTube channel, I Am A Beautiful Story, which she uses to educate, empower and break the stigma surrounding HIV.
As in all aspects of the HIV/AIDS response, advocates have played an invaluable role in this progress, sharing their lived experience to shape the research agenda, push for equity and accountability, and bridge the gap between researchers and communities. The HIV cure landscape in the US is expanding, with funding for cure research steadily increasing since 2022. With this increased investment in cure-focused research and expanded collaborations, there is an urgent need for advocates to engage meaningfully in shaping priorities.
In April 2026, AVAC, the Well Project and the Martin Delaney Collaboratories brought 20 of these skilled advocates together, along with 11 leading researchers and cure experts (Academy faculty), for the US HIV Cure Academy. The Academy is designed to strengthen understanding of HIV cure science and build research translation skills in support of advocacy efforts. While AVAC and the International AIDS Society have held a global Advocacy-For-A-Cure Academy annually since 2017, this Academy was just the second US-specific cohort to be convened. Academy participants came from across the US, bringing diverse backgrounds and levels of involvement with HIV cure research. Many Academy participants are living with HIV, have loved ones living with HIV and/or represent communities disproportionately affected by HIV, making the Academy more than simply a professional pursuit.
It was humbling and captivating to be in a room of seasoned community advocates as they shared stories of concerns, experiences, and victories throughout their own lives living with HIV. I carry with me the knowledge and understanding that HIV is more than a disease, but it is an ever-changing obstacle that requires uniting unalike people to overcome a common enemy.
Kendrick Forte
Research consultant with Florida State University
“What the Academy has meant to me is that there is hope in a cure. Not many people know what’s going on, but being at the Academy is going to help me bring this knowledge to the community.”
William Campos
President of the Equality Empowerment Center in Miami
The cohort style that is offered at this Academy is top notch. I think that’s what makes this so special. You’re leaning on other folks, trying to bridge that gap from scientific lingo to everyday lingo and bringing that from the Academy home.
Corey Nedev
Academy participant and Doctor of Health Science candidate in Population Health at Thomas Jefferson University.
Over the course of three days in Durham, North Carolina, participants learned the foundations of HIV cure science and the latest research developments from some of the top scientists in the field. Academy faculty gave engaging presentations on the viral reservoir, strategies for curing HIV, lifetime survivors, the role of sex and gender in HIV cure research and more. Participants and faculty engaged in robust discussions throughout the three days, creating a unique environment for bi-directional learning. The experience really helped me reconnect with my passion for sharing science with the community,” said Jake Robinson, Academy faculty and Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.
The Academy offered an interactive setting for discussing the latest issues in HIV cure science and advocacy.
In addition to building knowledge, participants gained practical skills in translating complex science for community audiences—a critical aspect of ensuring communities understand and can meaningfully engage in HIV cure research and advocacy. The Academy also included a tour of Academy faculty Dr. Guido Ferrari’s lab at Duke University. The tour brought the science to life for Academy participants, while the researchers expressed equal appreciation to connect with the advocates who inspire their research.
Researchers in Academy faculty Dr. Guido Ferrari’s lab gave Academy participants a behind-the-scenes look at their HIV cure research.
The US HIV Cure Academy is an example of the importance of sustained programming for HIV cure advocacy. While the workshop was only a few days long, alumni continue to connect regularly, sharing upcoming events and discussing new developments impacting HIV efforts. In the coming months, the US Cure Academy will award one to two alumni with a 12-month grant to implement a community-based HIV cure project, offering an opportunity to use what was gained at the Academy to improve community understanding of and engagement with HIV cure research. While the pursuit for an HIV cure is ongoing, efforts like the US Cure Academy help ensure true partnership between researchers and communities—an essential element for advancing ethical, inclusive and community-driven cure research.
Global Health Watch: Research in Peril, Ebola Vaccine Devs, Congress Questions Sec. Of State, Exec Order Makes Firing HHS Employees Easier
A new proposed White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) rule that cites PEPFAR as justification for greater political oversight of federal grantmaking puts research in peril; vaccine developments accelerate as the Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak grows; and the US Secretary of State takes questions from multiple Congressional committees about the future of PEPFAR; responding to the Ebola outbreak; support of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; and US global health security. The Administration also nominated Johnny Figueroa of Tennessee to serve as Global AIDS Coordinator and issued a new Executive Order making thousands of US government employees easier to fire in continued efforts to dismantle science.
Proposed White House Rule Puts Research in Peril
In an ongoing attempt to decimate and politicize science, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposed sweeping new regulations to significantly expand political interference in federal funding decisions across all federal grants, threatening science, global health and the HIV/AIDS response. International scientific partnerships would be broadly discouraged, if not prohibited. Awards could be terminated at any time, for any reason. The rules also dramatically restrict public access to information about federally funded research—from grant funding opportunities to study results to hand-picked selection of research projects by administration officials. Moreover, new rules require “pre-issuance” by senior political appointees in making preliminary decisions for prospective grant proposals, marking a remarkable shift in decision-making power from objective, scientific content experts to ideologically driven loyalists. The proposed rule is currently open for public comment through July 13. Click here to comment or see AVAC’s Action Alert for more instructions.
IMPLICATIONS: These rules, if adopted, would mandate that federally funded science align with a politically motivated “America-First” research agenda aimed at dismantling decades of transformative global collaboration. These rules have the potential to dramatically reshape the trajectory of the entire federal HIV research to rollout continuum—threatening 2030 targets and the pathway to global health equity. Notably, the published proposed rule specifically and falsely references PEPFAR as justification for increased political scrutiny of federal grants, linking HIV and global health programs to a broader debate over federal spending, oversight and executive authority. For the HIV field, these changes could affect the entire research-to-rollout continuum and global partnerships, at a time when scientific collaboration is necessary to achieving 2030 HIV targets and advancing global health equity.
Race to Develop a Vaccine for the Ebola Bundibugyo Outbreak
This week, CEPI announced up to $62 million to accelerate three Bundibugyo-specific vaccine candidates into clinical testing. This comes as researchers and health officials are exploring whether existing Ebola vaccines and experimental therapies could offer some protection in the meantime. However, scientists warn that the outbreak is exposing a longstanding preparedness gap: despite years of warnings about the threat posed by non-Zaire Ebola strains, no licensed vaccines or therapeutics were available when this outbreak began. STAT reports that according to two former US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staffers, pandemic preparedness plans developed after COVID-19 were discarded under the current administration. And the firings of personnel and dismantled coordination mechanisms have left the US, and thus the global, response more fragmented.
IMPLICATIONS: These developments underscore a recurring lesson from both Ebola and HIV: scientific innovation alone is not enough. Sustained investment in research, surveillance, preparedness and global cooperation before a crisis emerges is essential to protecting health security and accelerating equitable access to lifesaving tools.
US Congress Questions Secretary of State on Ebola, Gavi and PEPFAR
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified for two days this week in front of multiple House and Senate congressional committees to defend the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2027 State Department budget and foreign policy agenda. Rubio was questioned on the Administration’s response to the Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak; future support for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; and the restructuring of US foreign assistance, among other topics. In response to concerns that no single official is leading the Ebola response (something he harshly criticized the Obama administration for in 2014–15 when he was a senator), Rubio said the Administration is considering a dedicated coordinator. He also noted that the US may re-engage with Gavi amid the growing outbreak. During testimony at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, public health and HIV activists were arrested while interrupting his speech, saying “Rubio’s cuts kill people with AIDS. PEPFAR saves lives.”
IMPLICATIONS: The hearings are bringing to light competing forces between the Administration and its intent to align its global health engagement with an “America First” strategy and concerns from Congress and the people about the consequences for outbreak preparedness, PEPFAR and HIV programs and international health security. Rubio’s comments on Gavi suggest that the worsening Ebola outbreak may be forcing a reassessment of recent moves away from multilateral health partnerships, particularly as Gavi plays a critical role in outbreak response and the development of potential Ebola vaccines. For the HIV field, the hearings reinforced that debates over PEPFAR, vaccine financing and global health security are increasingly interconnected, with Congress needing to step-up its oversight role to serve as a key arena for determining the future direction of US global health leadership.
New Executive Order Makes Thousands of Federal Employees Easier to Fire
A new US Executive Order (EO) was issued implementing “Schedule Policy/Career”, a category of employment that removes protections from approximately 8,000 federal employees in positions deemed to influence policy. The order expands the concept behind the Administration’s earlier “Schedule F” proposal, making it easier to fire career officials and replace merit-based protections with “at-will employment”. Federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), are expected to identify employees whose roles involve policy development, regulations or other policy-related functions.
IMPLICATIONS: Making non-political and career civil servants focused on policymaking easier to remove – with no legal recourse – is another step in the broader effort to centralize authority within the executive branch and shift toward greater political oversight of science, research and public health. Implementation of this EO could deprive the federal government of large swaths of built-up institutional memory, public health knowledge, and scientific expertise and be replaced by ideologues in alignment with Administration’s policy agenda. This is particularly a threat to the wide range of public health and research agencies under the purview of HHS, including NIH and its institutes, CDC, HRSA, FDA, among others.
HIV Prevention Advocates Applaud South Africa’s Introduction of Lenacapavir for PrEP
Call on Donors and Governments to Accelerate Access to Deliver Actual Impact
In a landmark moment, South Africa today became the 9th African country to introduce lencapavir (LEN) for HIV prevention. South Africa’s introduction of LEN is especially significant given the country’s central role in shaping the regional HIV response and the global PrEP market. As the largest PrEP market in the world, South Africa’s leadership can help drive the demand, volume, market confidence and lower prices needed to accelerate equitable access across the continent and the world. HIV prevention partners AVAC, Advocates for the Prevention of HIV in Africa (APHA), and Access Bridge welcomed today’s news of increased commitments and support from the Global Fund, while calling for further ensure access is realized and impact achieved.
“Today is a breakthrough. Not only for our country and the African continent, which continues to carry some of the world’s largest HIV burdens, but for the global HIV response. Access to LEN allows us to reimagine prevention, especially for young people and adolescent girls and young women who need more choices that fit their lives. It is important to centre our efforts around girls and young women who need to be the focus of our efforts. We must move with urgency to ensure that everyone who could benefit from lenacapavir can do so,” said Yvette Raphael, Executive Director of Advocates for the Prevention of HIV in Africa (APHA) and co-chair of the African Women’s Prevention Community Accountability Board (AWPCAB).
“Today is a sign of what is possible when communities, governments, and partners work together. LEN will offer my generation the chance to protect their health with greater freedom and confidence. We must now make sure this innovation reaches the people who need it most—quickly, equitably, and without barriers. Today is exciting, but it is also a call to action for all of us,” said Lerato Morulane, APHA Ground Force coordinator.
During the launch event, the Global Fund announced that with additional backing from the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), it will scale-up support for South Africa’s LEN roll-out, increasing funding from $29M to nearly $70M to support this more ambitious effort. This contribution to the Global Fund goes toward their joint commitment with PEPFAR to ensure access to LEN for at least three million people over three years – a more solid start than with previous PrEP introductions, but still below the levels needed to deliver impact.
In July 2025, AVAC published a market assessment that the world could go much faster than existing commitments allow and reach at least 1.5 million people with LEN in just one year in low- and middle-income countries if resources were made available, and reach over seven million in three years, if resources were available.
“Lenacapavir has transformational potential for HIV prevention, and today’s launch is another step in the right direction,” said Mitchell Warren, Executive Director of AVAC. “But additional donor investments are urgently needed as the field is still nowhere near what the market can bear and what is needed for impact. A meaningful volume commitment of at least four million LEN users in two years is both possible and has the potential to unlock faster access, strengthen market confidence, and accelerate access to prevention for communities that need it most. Ultimately, LEN must reach more than five million people per year to have real impact, build a sustainable market, and drive prices down even further. Today’s announcement is progress, but we still need to go farther faster.”
LEN has been widely recognized as a transformative HIV prevention option, with the every-six-month injection providing highly effective protection. However, translating the scientific breakthrough of LEN into population-level access and impact requires coordinated action across many sectors, including financing, manufacturing, pricing, regulatory, and delivery.
“Today represents another important milestone, but now we need to roll up our collective sleeves and get to work,” said Wawira Nyagah, Executive Director of Access Bridge. “South Africa has an essential role to play in building the global market for LEN and driving the volumes needed to lower prices, strengthen supply, and accelerate access worldwide. To realize the full potential of this innovation, all stakeholders must work together with even greater urgency, ambition, and a commitment to speed, scale, and equity. The opportunity is in front of us; now we must seize it. To see LEN truly succeed, programs must be designed with communities at the centre and that commitments translate into real access for the people who need it. Access Bridge is working across countries in Eastern and Southern Africa to ensure countries are equipped to meet this moment.”
AVAC and Access Bridge have called on stakeholders to meet the current moment of scientific opportunity and public health need with bolder ambition. The past decade of PrEP programs have highlighted numerous lessons on how to get LEN rollout right as part of comprehensive HIV prevention programs so that today’s announcement translates into real-world impact. Key considerations include:
Regulatory approval and normative guidance: Stringent regulatory reviewers have approved LEN and high-quality studies have been completed — this should speed the process for countries to introduce LEN at scale.
Planning and budgeting: Pricing must be clear and transparent, and budgets must encompass the full range of activities needed to make PrEP successful.
Supply chain management: If there’s no product, there’s no program. Commitments need to be translated into orders, and orders need to be delivered consistently and without delay.
Health service delivery: Providers who deliver PrEP services need guidelines, training and tools to enhance differentiated service delivery.
Monitoring, evaluation and learning: To track project targets and provides insights for program improvement, and lessons for scaling future prevention products in the pipeline.
Today’s announcement builds on prior commitments from the Global Fund and PEPFAR, as well as investments from the Gates Foundation and Unitaid to accelerate development and access to generic LEN at lower prices. With generic LEN likely entering the market in the first half of 2027, now is the time to strengthen and grow the market with Gilead’s supply: the faster the market grows, the more infections that can be averted at lower cost.
“Commitments are important, but orders are essential. In Gilead’s own words, they can produce far more if orders are made,” said Warren. “Especially for 2027, clear timelines and ambitious orders for both originator and generic supply will be critical to avoid gaps in care of current LEN users and to expand the reach of this innovation.”
ACTION ALERT: Research in Peril
Proposed White House Regulation Politicizes Federal Research Funding
In an ongoing attempt to decimate and politicize science, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposed sweeping new regulations to significantly expand political interference in federal research funding decisions across all federal grants, threatening science, global health and the HIV/AIDS response.
These rules, if adopted, would mandate that federally funded science align with a politically motivated “America-First” research agenda aimed at dismantling decades of powerful global collaboration. International scientific partnerships would be broadly discouraged, if not prohibited. Awards could be terminated at any time, for any reason.
The rules also dramatically restrict public access to information about federally funded research—from grant funding opportunities to study results to hand-picked selection of research projects by administration officials. Moreover, new rules require “pre-issuance” by senior political appointees in making preliminary decisions for prospective grant proposals, marking a remarkable shift in decision-making power from objective, scientific content experts to ideologically driven loyalists.
Those are just the highlights. See a comprehensive summary of key changes in OMB’s proposed rule.
Everyone who cares about HIV prevention, biomedical research and global health should be deeply alarmed. These rules have the potential to dramatically reshape the trajectory of the entire federal HIV research to rollout continuum—threatening 2030 targets and the pathway to global health equity.
As Holden Thorpe, Editor-In-Chief of Science Journals wrote today in Science, “The changes would inevitably lead to unlegislated reductions in funding and damage US leadership in science, both in academia and industry.”
“International collaboration with countries identified solely by the administration would be prohibited under the new rules, but more notably, all research that involves the expenditure of funds outside the US would require case-by-case approval. This bureaucratic hurdle would effectively prevent most if not all partnerships from moving forward.”
—Holden Thorpe, Editor-In-Chief of Science Journals
AVAC encourages researchers, partners and advocates to make their voices heard. The proposed rule is currently open for public comment through July 13, and you can take action now:
AVAC and partners are developing sample messages for submitting your public comments, coming soon. In the meantime, follow the latest developments in AVAC’s weekly Global Health Watch newsletter and follow our friends at Stand Up For Science who are tracking this closely.
Lenacapavir Arrives in South Africa on Friday
What's Next
Injectable lenacapavir for PrEP (LEN) is rolling out across Africa faster than any HIV prevention option to date. This Friday, South Africa will become the ninth African country to introduce LEN. Below are updated resources to track this progress and ensure the field moves with speed, scale and equity.
What Could and Should Happen Still with Lenacapavir for PrEP: An HIV Prevention Opportunity That Mustn’t be Squandered
In this Bhekisisa commentary, Mitchell Warren of AVAC and Wawira Nyagah of Access Bridge argue that the promise of LEN for PrEP will only be realized if governments, donors and communities act together with urgency and ambition. They warn that funding cuts and weakening prevention infrastructure threaten to undermine LEN rollout just as it becomes available in African countries. As Warren told Devex last month, “I worry we are building lenacapavir programs on a foundation of sand.”
An Advocate’s Checklist for Lenacapavir for PrEP Introduction
Use the checklist! The Civil Society Caucus of the Coalition to Accelerate Access to Long-Acting HIV PrEP developed a new resource that offers practical guidance to help civil society, advocates and implementers accelerate equitable access to LEN for PrEP. The checklist is designed to support faster, community-centered rollout ahead of broader generic availability in 2027.
Just days after the US announced expanded support for LEN, new PEPFAR data revealed that PrEP initiations had fallen by more than 40% following US foreign aid cuts. Speaking at Devex’s Impact House during the World Health Assembly along with representatives of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) and Gilead Sciences, AVAC’s Mitchell Warren described the situation as a “cruel irony”: at the very moment a transformative prevention tool is becoming available, the programs and systems needed to deliver it are being weakened.
LEN Rollout Advances
On April 22, 2026, Mozambique became the latest country to roll out LEN, and South Africa will join them on June 5, 2026. Delivery and uptake of LEN may be challenged by the loss of critical infrastructure in the wake of US cuts to foreign aid.
Overview of Key LEN Dose, Volumes, Timelines and Prices
While introduction is just beginning, there are already supply constraints, which will shape who gets LEN and when. It’s unclear whether Gilead Sciences can produce additional volumes of LEN for 2026 given manufacturing lead times. At the same time, LEN orders for 2027—across both Gilead and generic supplies—must be placed NOW to avoid disruptions, support continuity for current users and enable the scale-up needed to meet growing demand and achieve public health impact.
LEN has the potential to reach millions — and the momentum is building. Using the current oral PrEP market as a baseline, this graphic estimates what demand for LEN could look like through 2028 and shows how donor commitments currently stack up against that opportunity.
Follow AVAC and our partner, Access Bridge to stay up-to-date on the latest advances with LEN for PrEP.
Global Health Watch: CDC Directors Warn About PEPFAR, Ebola & Aid Cuts, Policy Developments Threaten Open Science
Issue 70
A commentary by eight former US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) directors urges the US Department of State to reform PEPFAR, not dismantle it; the growing Ebola outbreak in Central Africa and ongoing hantavirus concerns underscore the risks abrupt changes pose to global health security; and a proposed new US federal grant regulation could significantly expand political influence over scientific funding decisions and research priorities as additional barriers to scientific collaboration and transparency emerge.
Former CDC Directors Warn of Risks to Global HIV and Outbreak Response
Eight former CDC directors warned in a STAT opinion piece that the US Department of State’s proposed restructuring of the nearly 23-year CDC-PEPFAR relationship could dismantle key elements of the US’ overseas global health security infrastructure. Many laboratory systems, surveillance networks, trained health workers, and community engagement capacity being used in the current Ebola response were built through decades of HIV and PEPFAR investment. As PEPFAR faces restructuring, the authors warn that HIV services and outbreak preparedness and response capacity could erode simultaneously. They further argue that requiring countries to purchase CDC technical assistance services through new bilateral agreements risks weakening the CDC’s international presence, including surveillance and response systems, and could undermine long-standing relationships of trust with ministries of health that support HIV programs, pandemic preparedness and outbreak response. In response, as reported by Politico, the Department of State disputed claims that PEPFAR or CDC’s overseas operations are being dismantled, arguing that countries could continue purchasing CDC services under the new model and that CDC funding “could very well increase.” The Department also emphasized CDC’s ongoing role in responding to Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks.
IMPLICATIONS: The former directors’ warning echoes growing concern across the public health community that the rapid restructuring of PEPFAR could destabilize HIV programs, complicate the transition to country ownership, and fracture global disease surveillance and outbreak-response systems built through decades of US investment, just as the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa and hantavirus cases underscore the importance of coordinated international health security systems. While there is broad stakeholder agreement about the importance of increasing country ownership and transitioning away from donor dependence, the accelerated pace and structure of the proposed changes could destroy technical expertise and relationships before sustainable alternatives are in place.
News outlets this week are reporting on how cuts to USAID, and disengagement of the US in the global health ecosystem, may have already delayed and impaired surveillance and response efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda to the rising Ebola crisis. These reports come as the US Administration announced plans to establish a quarantine and treatment facility in Kenya for US citizens exposed to Ebola, rather than transporting them to the US as in past outbreaks. This reflects a major shift away from policies to repatriate US citizens exposed to Ebola overseas to secure, contained, treatment facilities within US borders that were implemented during the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic in West Africa. Meanwhile, scientists are racing to identify treatment and prevention countermeasures to the Bundibugyo strain, which has no approved vaccines or therapeutics.
IMPLICATIONS: The emergence of the Ebola crisis compounds the growing disruptions seen over the past year, including the effects of funding cuts, reduced multilateral cooperation, strained surveillance systems and rising nationalism. These developments are placing global health security and international cooperation on emerging infectious disease threats in a more precarious position than at any point in the past decade. Ravaging USAID, CDC and WHO-linked infrastructure risks undermining the speed, trust and coordination needed, government-to-government, to prevent and contain outbreaks early. Public health officials warn of the ethical and operational challenges with the modified quarantine and treatment policies noting it could discourage health workers from volunteering in outbreak zones, and further strain international capacity and coordination.
Growing Barriers to Scientific Collaborations and Transparency
New policy developments this week threaten open, international and collaborative science that has defined global health research. Science reports that some NIH institutes are requiring advance permission for inclusion of co-authors affiliated with foreign research institutions—no official policy has been communicated. Meanwhile, new proposed legislation introduced in the US Senate, Securing Innovation and Research from Adversaries Act, would prohibit research collaborations between US and Chinese scientists at federally funded institutions. At the same time, the US Administration is proposing expansive nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) for all federal workers that could further limit communication and information sharing across government agencies. Adding to concerns, a proposed new Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulation that applies to all federal grants would require review by senior political appointees and explicitly states that “peer review remains advisory and does not replace agency discretion,” raising fears about growing political influence over scientific funding decisions and research priorities.
IMPLICATIONS: HIV research, outbreak response, pandemic preparedness and scientific discovery have historically depended on international collaborations and networks of scientists, shared datasets, multinational trials, robust peer review and open scientific exchange. These policy developments speak to the current trajectory of an increasingly securitized and nationalistic approach to science and research. Restrictions on collaboration, increased political oversight of and interference in grantmaking, and limits on scientific communication could weaken trust and reshape how science is conducted. These policies continue an overall trend by the current administration to politicize science and defund critical research based on ideology.
This new resource will provide advocates and the global community with the information and resources to engage with AI in ways that strengthen equity, protect individuals and communities and ensure that technological innovation advances the HIV response rather than undermines it.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping global health, from disease surveillance to drug and diagnostic discovery and development to the delivery of information, products and services—bringing both new opportunities and new risks. In the HIV response, AI is being applied across prevention, treatment and care, offering the potential to expand reach, strengthen efforts, and improve the response, but also creating various risks, which makes responsible, community-focused practice an imperative.
Together with partners, and guided by a distinguished editorial advisory group, we are proud and excited to release our first AI & HIV Newsletter! This new quarterly resource will provide advocates and the global community with the information and resources to engage with AI in ways that strengthen equity, protect individuals and communities and prioritize their inclusion, and ensure that technological innovation advances the HIV response rather than undermines it. Within this first issue, we highlight the latest resources, tools, research, and policy developments at the intersection of AI and HIV.
AVAC and Audere, a technology company developing AI tools to support HIV self-testing and linking clients to differentiated HIV prevention or treatment, have recently published AI and HIV Programs: A Guide for Advocates. This guide is intended to help advocates understand how AI can strengthen information access, prevention, treatment, and trust across communities. It outlines both opportunities and risks, emphasizing the need for equity, community leadership, strong data protections, and responsible deployment. The guide offers concrete actions advocates can take now to shape ethical AI adoption, break down silos, and accelerate progress from fragmented pilots to scalable impact.
AI 101 Training for Communities Webinar – Why Communities Need AI (Recording)
ITPC in partnership with Audere hosted a webinar exploring the basics of AI and why communities must play a central role in shaping how AI is used in health and development. Participants discussed where AI can add value, where human judgment remains essential, and how AI is already influencing health systems, information access and decision-making. ITPC notes that communities shouldn’t just use AI. They should influence it. The difference between being shaped by AI and shaping it starts with understanding it. This webinar was a step in that direction.
Evidence from South Africa’s Aimee program offers an early glimpse into how AI could support the next generation of HIV prevention and sexual health services. Developed by Audere Africa and Shout-It-Now, Aimee is a WhatsApp-based AI health companion that provides confidential, 24/7 guidance on HIV prevention, sexual health and mental wellbeing—meeting young people on a platform they already use widely.
Early engagement data from nearly 10,000 users show strong uptake, with many users seeking information on HIV testing, PrEP, contraception and relationships, and nearly half of those who interacted with Aimee proceeding to HIV self-testing. The findings suggest AI tools like Aimee could play an important role in helping people navigate prevention decisions, understand products like PrEP and connect to care earlier and more confidently. The publication is pending. The same Self-Care platform also powers live programs and research studies across South Africa and Zimbabwe including: Coach Mpilo led by PSI and WHC, Self-Cav from NDOH available via Bwise and supported by Shout-It-Now, and VimbAI led by CeSHHAR.
As global health systems face mounting pressure from funding cuts, economic instability and shifting geopolitical priorities, the authors argue that digital health interventions (DHIs) and AI tools must be embedded into national HIV and broader health strategies to improve efficiency, strengthen resilience and reduce inequities. They emphasize that sustainable digital tools should be affordable, interoperable, adaptable to low-resource settings and designed with the needs of users and frontline health workers at the center—including strong privacy protections, offline functionality and culturally responsive approaches. The paper also calls for governments, donors and partners to invest in infrastructure, workforce capacity and regulatory frameworks that can support ethical, scalable and sustainable use of AI in HIV prevention and care.
The Future of Global Health: Embracing a minimum regulatory floor for AI Governance in Africa
Fola Adeleke, the Executive Director of the Global Center on AI Governance, argues for stronger governance frameworks to ensure AI technologies advance equity as AI tools become increasingly embedded in HIV prevention and care. Adeleke highlights growing concerns around data privacy, consent, cross-border data use and algorithmic decision-making, while emphasizing that AI systems introduced into HIV programs must uphold long-standing principles of accountability, transparency and community leadership. Drawing on research from countries with the highest HIV burdens, he calls for a “minimum regulatory floor” for AI governance in Africa—one grounded in human rights, public trust and meaningful community participation.
Credibility, Legitimacy and South Africa’s AI Policy Moment
Last month, South Africa withdrew its draft national AI policy after the document was found to have fabricated references and citations, which raised concerns about oversight and responsible use of AI in policymaking. While credibility may be reduced for the future policy, some experts see the situation as a constructive warning about the need for stronger governance, verification and accountability mechanisms as countries rapidly develop AI strategies and integrate AI into public systems.
amfAR launched the HIV Immune Atlas Study, a $2 million initiative to leverage AI to help map the HIV reservoir. A collaboration between HIV researchers and AI experts will hopefully inform how HIV persists in the body despite effective treatment. The project will create the first comprehensive single-cell map of how HIV affects the immune system and establishes hidden viral reservoirs in tissues using sequencing technologies and machine learning. The goal is to integrate years of existing scientific data to uncover patterns that were previously unable to be detected and build computational models capable of predicting strategies to eliminate the HIV reservoir.
New research suggests many potential uses of AI to strengthen HIV prevention research, counseling and service delivery, from personalized pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) support to sexual health conversations that are free of stigma. A recent study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research evaluated an AI-powered chatbot designed to use motivational interviewing techniques to support HIV prevention and PrEP uptake. Meanwhile, researchers in South Africa tested an AI conversational agent developed with communities and health providers to support HIV prevention assessments in non-clinical settings. Participants reported that the tool created a more open, stigma-free environment to discuss sex, sexuality and HIV prevention.
AI will be a major focus at the upcoming International AIDS Conference (IAC 2026), with sessions exploring AI-powered HIV prevention, digital health tools, AI ethics, governance, misinformation and equity. Explore AVAC’s roadmap of AI-related sessions.
INTEREST 2026 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, reminded us why this conference holds such an important place in the African HIV response. It is not just where new data are presented or where the next wave of scientific breakthroughs are discussed, but it is also where the promise of innovation is tested against the realities of implementation.
Across sessions, we heard about long-acting HIV prevention, HIV cure research, vaccine science, TB innovation, STIs, and comprehensive care for aging populations grounded in reality of the current context—clinics with stretched staff, communities still facing stigma, ministries of health navigating policy and financing pressures, and health systems being asked to deliver more with less.
For us, the strongest message from INTEREST 2026 was this: the HIV field is not short of innovation; however, products do not deliver themselves. The urgent question is whether countries, communities, funders, and health systems are ready to turn innovation into access and impact.
Opening Session: The State of HIV Prevention in Africa
Tanzania’s hosting of INTEREST 2026 was an important milestone for regional and global collaboration. HIV remains a major public health challenge, and, while there has been real progress, persistent inequities and access gaps remind us that the work is far from finished, and countries, regions, and the global community must work together to advance the response.
Mahesh Swaminathan from CDC Tanzania shared progress toward the 95-95-95 targets in eastern and southern Africa, celebrating the progress of seven countries reaching the targets by the end of 2024. However, new HIV infections continue, especially among adolescent girls and young women and other sub-populations. Prosper Faustine Njau from Tanzania’s Ministry of Health brought the discussion closer to the host country context, noting that Tanzania is currently at 83%-98%-94%, with a persistent gap in ensuring that people know their HIV status.
Catherine Madebe from the National Council of People Living with HIV in Tanzania, a member of AVAC’s Clinical Trial Design Academy and a 2022 Fellow Alumna, reminded us why community leadership matters. During the opening session, she highlighted the essential role of communities in HIV programs and commended Tanzania’s progress on social contracting—the process whereby governments use public funds to pay NGOs and civil society groups to deliver HIV prevention, testing, and care services—as one way to strengthen community-led responses and accountability.
Long-Acting Prevention Is Here; Now Comes the Hard Part
If CROI 2026 made it clear that the prevention pipeline is expanding, INTEREST 2026 underlined the tension between scientific promise and the delivery of services at scale. While science is moving fast, we were reminded that the lives we are trying to reach are complex, shaped by stigma, access, cost, interpersonal relationships, mobility, and mistrust in health systems and institutions.
Kenneth Ngure, former Dean of the School of Public Health at Jomo Kenyatta University and incoming president of the IAS highlighted the realities of implementation as the field moves toward long-acting prevention. Oral PrEP has helped transform HIV prevention, but uptake and continuation are still affected by pill fatigue, stigma, limited awareness, side effects, social barriers, and the realities of daily life. Long-acting products, including the Dapivirine Vaginal Ring (DVR), injectable cabotegravir (CAB), injectable lenacapavir (LEN) and the anticipated monthly oral pill (MK 8527) may address some of these challenges, but only if they are affordable, available, well understood, and delivered through platforms people can actually use.
Kenneth Ngure shares AVAC’s prevention pipeline and projected timelines for products reaching the market.
Francois Venter, Executive Director of Ezintsha at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, summarized the current state of the HIV field saying, “The drugs are amazing—but delivery systems will determine whether they actually transform lives.” We should be excited about new products, but we should be equally serious about the systems and platforms that must deliver them, as Venter notes, “Products do not deliver themselves.” The future of PrEP may be long-acting, but its success will depend on whether we make choice in prevention real, accessible and equitable. (See also a recent commentary from our two organizations that describes what needs to happen next: The HIV prevention jab scientists hoped for is finally here. Now comes the hard part.)
Africa Is Leading the Science of HIV Cure and Vaccines
One of the most exciting moments at INTEREST 2026 was hearing about HIV cure research taking place in Africa. A major highlight was the encouraging safety findings from the first-in-Africa HIV cure trial, which includes vesatolimod, VRC07-523LS, and CAP256V2LS. Additionally, of the 20 participants, four (20%) achieved durable ART-free viral control, while eight (40%) experienced atypical viral rebound dynamics.
While the search for HIV cure remains complex, the field is moving from theory to clinical evidence, showing that durable viral control without antiretroviral therapy (ART) can occur in some individuals. Perhaps most importantly, it demonstrates that complex HIV cure trials can be conducted in African settings when there is strong community partnerships, ethical engagement, and multi-sector collaboration.
INTEREST also gave important space to HIV vaccine research. Vincent Muturi-Kioi from IAVI presented Translational HIV Vaccine Development and mRNA Technology, describing how discoveries can move from the laboratory into human trials more efficiently. The IAVI G001, G002, and G003 studies were discussed as important milestones, including evidence that African participants can mount immune responses comparable to those seen in US populations.
This momentum in cure and vaccine science reflects a broader shift toward African scientific leadership and self-reliance. ACHIEVE Africa is one example discussed at the conference: an African-led, African Union (AU) member-state championed initiative strengthening the continent’s capacity for vaccine and biologics research, clinical trials, regulation, and manufacturing. By investing in African institutions, scientists, partnerships, and technology transfer, it seeks to close longstanding R&D and production gaps while advancing health security and local production, including the AU target of producing 60% of Africa’s vaccines locally by 2040. Together, these efforts show that Africa is not only receiving innovation, but driving science, partnerships, and systems that will shape the future of global health.
HIV Does Not Exist in Isolation
A session on STIs led by Mitch Matoga, physician-scientist at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Project Malawi, reviewed emerging technologies in STI prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, including one-dose benzathine penicillin G, meningococcal B vaccines for gonorrhea prevention, new oral drugs for gonorrhea (zoliflidacin and gepotidacin) and Doxy-PEP/PrEP. The practical message was clear: Africa needs more locally relevant data, especially on Doxy-PEP among heterosexual cisgender men and women. Affordable rapid point-of-care STI diagnostics remain limited, antimicrobial resistance surveillance is weak, and many settings still rely heavily on syndromic management.
A session on long-acting TB treatment and prevention showed how lessons from HIV may shape the future of TB care. Long-acting injectable bedaquiline and other compounds are in development, with the hope of reducing pill burden, improving adherence, and making TB care more patient-centered. But speakers were clear that TB should learn from HIV and avoid creating fragmented systems. Guidelines, referral pathways, pharmacovigilance, workforce training, and delivery platforms need to be aligned early.
This was one of the moments where the conference moved beyond disease-specific silos. HIV, STIs, TB, Ebola, maternal health, and broader infectious disease priorities are connected through the same health systems. If those systems are weak, every product struggles.
Comprehensive HIV Care Must Evolve with People’s Lives
A session on menopause in women living with HIV was one of the most important reminders that care must evolve as people living with HIV continue to age. Karoline Aebi-Popp, a physician and researcher at the Department of Infectious Disease at the University of Hospital Bern, Switzerland highlighted how women living with HIV often experience menopause earlier and with more severe symptoms, yet menopause care is rarely integrated into HIV services, especially in low-resource settings. The session emphasized that menopause should be treated as a clinical diagnosis and challenged the field to expand what we mean by comprehensive HIV care. If people living with HIV are aging, then HIV services must age with them.
AVAC and Access Bridge at INTEREST
Beyond the main conference sessions, INTEREST 2026 was also an important space for AVAC, Access Bridge and partners to share advocacy priorities and field insights. AVAC presented a poster on HIV Prevention Research and Development at a Tipping Point: Insights from the 2025 People’s Research Agenda Update, highlighting the need to protect and sustain HIV prevention R&D at a time of financing uncertainty. We also convened a PEP-in-Africa side meeting that brought together researchers, implementers, Ministry of Health representatives, and advocates to discuss how to improve access to today’s PEP while preparing for future PEP options. Access Bridge presented two important presentations on lessons for getting PrEP rollout right this time and on forecasting long-acting PrEP need among key populations from 2025 to 2030.
Grace Kumwenda (AVAC) presenting The Global Forecast of Long-Acting PrEP Need for Key Populations on behalf of Catherine Verde Hashim (Access Bridge)
Financing Will Decide Whether Innovation and Interventions Reach People
Across INTEREST, the funding crisis was a constant undercurrent. A mini-oral from South Africa described how HIV funding cuts have reduced donor-supported staffing in primary healthcare facilities, disrupting key prevention, testing, linkage, and supportive services. While core ART services remained more stable, facilities relied on task shifting, temporary staffing, and multi-month dispensing to keep services moving—at the cost of heavier workloads, slower service delivery, weaker prevention services, and reporting delays.
Dr. Seif Shekalaghe, Principal Secretary for Health in Tanzania, emphasized that in a changing global financing environment, countries must strengthen domestic resource mobilization and build local capacity. Tanzania’s AIDS Trust Fund, efforts to expand healthcare access, and investment in local pharmaceutical manufacturing were highlighted as examples of steps toward self-reliance. This funding context is critical. We cannot talk honestly about new products, long-acting prevention, cure research, vaccines, or advanced therapies without also talking about who will pay, who will deliver, and how countries will sustain access.
Final Word
For us, the message from Dar es Salaam was clear: we need to build the bridge between discovery and delivery earlier and more efficiently. The INTEREST conference is powerful because it keeps these conversations relevant and reminds us that science matters, but so do systems.
Global Health Watch: Ebola exposes gaps; WHA79 debates future of WHO; continued dismantling of US health leadership
Issue 69
The hantavirus outbreak and now emerging Ebola crisis are exposing major gaps in pandemic preparedness and global health cooperation; the future of the World Health Organization (WHO), multilateralism and the HIV response is being debated at this week’s World Health Assembly (WHA); while the US government continues to deconstruct its public health leadership.
Emerging Ebola Crisis Exposes Major Gaps in Pandemic Preparedness
The growing Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak (Ebola) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda is testing global outbreak preparedness and response coordination, which continue to be dismantled and unfunded. Representatives of Uganda’s government said they were unaware of the US Department of State’s announcement that the US government would fund up to 50 Ebola treatment clinics in Uganda, signaling many concerns about coordination, collaboration and communication between governments and international partners. According to the WHO, the outbreak has resulted in more than 500 suspected cases and 130 deaths. Experts believe the virus may have circulated undetected for weeks or months in areas with weak health infrastructure and high population movement. Unlike the previous Ebola strain (Zaire), which circulated during the 2014 outbreak, there are no approved vaccines or therapeutics for the Bundibugyo strain. The global health community is urging stronger surveillance and expedited clinical trials to prevent emerging threats. “We need to urgently roll out appropriate clinical trials with appropriate candidate vaccines,” Prof. Helen Rees, Executive Director of Wits RHI, told colleagues at a closed meeting of vaccine researchers convened by WHO. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus defended the global response timeline, noting WHO deployed teams, supplies and emergency funding within days and argued the current outbreak demonstrates why countries still need WHO leadership and international health regulations.
IMPLICATIONS: The Ebola outbreak is testing all aspects of an increasingly fractured global health infrastructure. The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board warns the world is “moving backwards” on pandemic preparedness, with more frequent and severe outbreaks unfolding amid weakened surveillance systems, increasing funding cuts, decreasing trust in multilateralism and growing geopolitical tensions. Former US health officials are raising concerns that reductions in US global health engagement, including the dismantling of USAID, cuts to outbreak-response infrastructure and withdrawal from WHO, may already be undermining international coordination and delaying detection and response efforts. As Nicholas Enrich, former global health lead at USAID and author of Into the Wood Chipper, shared on AVAC’s webinar Wednesday: “What we’ve lost is the experience and systems and expertise that gave us the element of speed, and there’s nothing more important in an outbreak like this than the speed and conviction to respond…people will continue to die when they wouldn’t necessarily have to if we were able to use the tried and true system that USAID had in place.”
The current situation also illustrates the consequences of divestment in vaccines and in scientific research and development for pathogens likely to affect certain geographies and/or populations until outbreaks emerge. WHO’s insistence that response timelines have been appropriate reflects broader tensions over what constitutes a sufficiently rapid response in an era when weakened systems, misinformation, conflict and population displacement make containment increasingly difficult. Experts seem to agree that both the Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks show that pandemic preparedness cannot be about responding to a crisis once it begins, it must be about sustaining the scientific infrastructure, coordination mechanisms and financing needed before they occur as lives are on the line. Additionally, the presence of emerging global health threats further constrains programs and public health systems that are contending with elevated HIV, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases – which may need to divert resources and capacity to manage.
World Health Assembly Debates Future of WHO and Global HIV Response
The World Health Assembly (WHA) opened in Geneva this week against the backdrop of the hantavirus and Ebola crises and amid uncertainty over the future of global health governance, financing and multilateral cooperation. The world is facing “difficult, dangerous and divisive times” WHO DG Tedros warned in his opening remarks. Much of the discussion focused on reforming the “global health architecture” as WHO confronts major funding shortfalls following the US withdrawal and reductions in foreign assistance. Leaders called for stronger multilateralism, more equitable representation for countries in the Global South and reforms that would build a more responsive and resilient system. HIV is also high on the agenda, with discussions focusing on preparations for the 2026 UN High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS and how to sustain progress toward ending AIDS by 2030. UNAIDS and other leaders are emphasizing sustainable financing, country ownership, HIV prevention, community leadership and equitable rollout of long-acting prevention tools like lenacapavir as countries navigate major shifts in global health financing and governance.
IMPLICATIONS: As the future of the global health architecture is being debated and reshaped, the world is simultaneously confronting emerging infectious threats, rising nationalism and shrinking global health aid. Uncertainty around how and when this new architecture will take shape risks abrupt transitions that could further destabilize HIV and broader health programs. In addition, ongoing tensions around pandemic preparedness, pathogen-sharing agreements and WHO reform underscore how difficult rebuilding consensus and coordination may be in a fragmented geopolitical environment. The future of global health and the HIV response will depend not only on access to scientific innovations, but on the political will of countries to invest in multilateral institutions, financing and collective action.
Leadership Turmoil Continues at NIAID as RFK Jr. Reshapes US Health Advisory Body
Health leadership inside the US government continues to decline. Jeffery Taubenberger reportedly stepped down as acting director of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and at a time when the world faces another Ebola outbreak. Taubenberger’s departure, if confirmed, would follow the removal or reassignment of several senior NIH officials and leave the institute without permanent leadership. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) also fired the chair and vice chair of the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a panel of experts responsible for recommending which preventive services health insurance providers must cover under the US Affordable Care Act.
IMPLICATIONS: There is growing concern about the broader effort to politicize or restructure the USPSTF in ways similar to RFK Jr.’s attempted overhaul of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), where replacement members later advanced major changes to federal vaccine recommendations. These new developments are further testament to the dismantling of long-standing scientific leadership and advisory infrastructure across US public health agencies. The uncertainty surrounding NIAID leadership is especially significant given the institute’s central role in infectious disease research, HIV science, outbreak preparedness and pandemic preparedness and response.
AVAC hosted a timely conversation with Nicholas Enrich, Into the Wood Chipper and former global health lead at USAID, and Rosemary Mburu of WACI Health on the dismantling of USAID, the foreign aid freeze and their reaching impacts on global health systems, HIV prevention and communities around the world.
