October 20, 2016
In a baseball-obsessed town (see Monday’s round-up) there was competition for TV viewers last night in Chicago as millions of people, including many conference-goers, watched the third and final debate between the two candidates vying to become the next US President. What do political campaigns and HIV prevention have in common? Read on for our (non-partisan) thoughts!
Lesson One: Tell a story, make it personal.
Politicians, advocates and parents—these are all groups that know the power of storytelling. Wednesday’s plenary session featured Noël Gordon Jr. (Human Rights Campaign) who told his unique story of getting on PrEP. He also shared his observations from working with gay men and transgender women, he talked about how their attitude toward HIV prevention, the threats to uptake and what opportunities we have to succeed. In advocacy, the best stories are the ones that (re)connect people to the issues. Gordon showed statistics on who is using PrEP in America—and the racial, age and gender demographics of PrEP users do not match those of people most at risk. Stigma also remains a huge issue.
Also in this plenary session, and available via webcast: two excellent research updates—Dennis Burton (Scripps Research Institute) on broadly neutralizing antibody-based vaccine design and Sharon Hillier (Microbicide Trials Network) on the state of the microbicide field.
Later that morning in the Advocates’ Corner, four advocates—Chilufya Kasanda, current AVAC Fellow at the Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign (Zambia), Chamunorwa Mashoko, a leader of the Advocacy Core Team in Zimbabwe, Morenike Upkong, founder and leader of the Nigerian HIV New HIV Vaccine and Microbicide Advocacy Society and Amaka Enemo, current AVAC Fellow at the Heartland Alliance in Nigeria—shared personal stories about empowerment, advocacy and being human. All participated in a training for advocates earlier this year conducted by The Moth, a US-based organization focused on the art and craft of storytelling. Check back at avac.org to see video from their stories later this year.
Lesson Two: Exercise choice, give consent, show zero tolerance for sexual violence.
Some of the story lines in the American election have been a potent reminder of the fundamental right that all people, women and men, have to exercise choice about their bodies. In her plenary, Sharon Hillier (MTN) showed data that underscored the importance of full, free choice. Among women under 21 in the ASPIRE trial of the dapivirine ring, overall use was very low. But among women in this age range who were invested in using it—indicated by the amount of dapivirine still remaining in used rings, drug levels in samples, and self-report—use levels were stronger. And when they did use it, they were protected. Hillier reported analysis from the ASPIRE data indicating that the ring, used consistently, reduced risk by up to 84 percent compared to women under 25 using a placebo ring. This information complemented findings, also from ASPIRE, presented by Thesla Palanee-Phillips (WHRI) at the Tuesday press conference (and on the conference program today) that found that intimate partner violence—which can be physical and psychological—impeded adherence among ASPIRE trial participants. In this election and prevention season, it bears repeating: no biomedical prevention strategy will eliminate the need to prevent and address sexual, psychological and physical violence against women, sexual minorities and all people under threat because of how they live or what they do.
Lesson Three: Look who’s talking (or being talked about).
Sometimes the candidate who seizes the spotlight is campaigning for the next election. HIV prevention, like American politics, can gravitate towards the next big thing, be it a vaccine candidate or a presidential hopeful. The relatively untested is also relatively untarnished—and it can inspire hope for major change. Much of the vaccine discussion was not on the candidates now in efficacy trials but rather on candidates in earlier phases of development. On Tuesday, Chris Parks (IAVI) discussed the results of a trial in non-human primates of a vaccine that uses Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV) as a vector. VSV is a replicating vector: a virus that has been disabled so that it doesn’t cause disease or carry risk but does have the ability to copy itself. It is thought that replicating vectors could prompt strong and sustained immune responses.
Later on Tuesday, Hanneke Schuitemaker from Janssen said that a decision is expected as early as the 4th quarter of 2016 about whether to move forward with a three-part vaccine strategy known as Ad26/gp140/MVA, which is currently under development in collaboration with a number of organizations including the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), the US Military HIV Research Program (USMHRP) and Beth Israel Deaconess Center.
Interest in next-generation candidates also showed up in discussions of long-acting antiretrovirals, which could be used for both treatment and prevention. Data were shown on a new compound known as EFdA, which is in early animal studies, and on cabotegravir, the candidate moving toward possible efficacy trials in 2017. Politics remind us—don’t discount or count on any single candidate to get the job done!
Lesson Four: Money talks.
At an afternoon session, we heard that money for HIV prevention R&D has remained essentially flat for over a decade. These data come from a new report, HIV Prevention Research & Development Investments, 2000–2015: Investment priorities to fund innovation in a challenging global health landscape, from the Resource Tracking for HIV Prevention R&D Working Group, which AVAC leads. Read more on the new data in our blog post here.
Lesson Five: People in power can and must listen to and be guided by people “on the ground”.
Who are politicians or trial site staff responsible to—and dependent on—for success? The people in the communities in which they work. Without collaboration, there is no change. No engagement, no chance of making real progress. This is recognized across the field—and there’s expanding data on just how to engage. This contribution to the field is coming from widespread use of the Good Participatory Practice Guidelines (GPP) framework, which has been mentioned throughout the conference. In a presentation by Kenyan researcher Jane Ng’ang’a from the KAVI Institute of Clinical Research, she described how KAVI evaluated and improved its engagement plans using GPP. She credits the GPP framework for fostering community understanding and genuine support for the research. AVAC is proud to be the home of an online course on GPP—be sure to subscribe to the Advocates’ Network for announcements of when the next course will run.
When scientists work with (or as) advocates, or when politicians serve as (or team up with) activists, great things can happen. So one of our favorite moments of yesterday’s dialogues came at a “Meet the Experts Session”. Discussing their respective presentations, antibody expert Dennis Burton, and Noël Gordon, expert on the real world experience of people whose lives are affected by HIV in the US, realized they needed to connect. Business cards were exchanged—and perhaps the next prevention revolution was born.
For those on-site today, be sure to check out the final sessions at the Advocates’ Corner and grab some extra materials to take home! Thursday’s sessions include:
- 10:00am – 10:30am: PrEP implementation in Chicago’s STI clinics
- 12:00pm – 1:00pm: “It’s too complicated for them”: Service providers as gatekeepers to PrEP information and access
For the latest from the conference follow in real-time on Twitter and check out meeting coverage on aidsmap. The daily rapporteur summaries also provide report-backs on the conference. Missed a session? Visit here to see the webcasts as they become available.