AVAC Fellows Program

Capability Statement

The AVAC Fellows program empowers advocates to create lasting impact within their communities and beyond. Alumni often pursue further training, lead advocacy movements, and play significant roles in shaping health policies and national strategies.

Advocacy to Accelerate Prevention R&D for Sexually Transmitted Infections

AVAC Case for Support

AVAC accelerates the development and delivery of STI prevention options by fostering collaborations with STI and HIV research advocates, developing new STI vaccines and diagnostics, and creating tools to monitor STI research and investment activities.

Our Work with Key Populations

Capability Statement

AVAC advocates for effective HIV prevention, supports Key Population-led research participation, fights against criminalization policies, accelerates access to innovative prevention tools, and champions broader health equity issues.

Allocation of Non-Commercial CAB for PrEP Supply in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, 2023-2025

Malaysia, Nigeria, Peru, Zambia, and the European Medicines Agency have approved CAB for PrEP; ViiV also made submissions in Canada, Colombia, and the United Kingdom. There are now 13 regulatory approvals and 15 additional submissions that are pending.

HIV Vaccine and Antibody Efficacy Trials to Date

This infographic provides a comprehensive overview of HIV vaccine and antibody efficacy trials. Over 20 years and 12 trials, only two positive signals have been observed.

Joint Statement on the April 18th Revised Pandemic Accord Draft

The Coalition of Advocates for Global Health and Pandemic Preparedness, a group of organizations advocating for a holistic and equitable approach in pandemic preparedness, offers several revisions to the April 18 revised Pandemic Accord draft.

Read the statement.

PxPulse: The Advocacy Chronicles with APHA’s Yvette Raphael 

Our debut episode of the Advocacy Chronicles features Yvette Raphael, the Executive Director of Advocacy for Prevention of HIV and AIDS (APHA) in South Africa, and a leader in the development of The Choice Manifesto, supported from start to finish by CASPR.

As co-chair of the African Women Prevention Community Accountability Board (AWPCAB), Yvette and other board members launched the manifesto in Kampala, in September 2023, calling for choice in HIV prevention options for women — such as oral and injectable cabotegravir for PrEP, the dapivirine vaginal ring and the Dual Prevention Pill — and a commitment to expanding access to them. A call heard by UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, who was on hand at the launch to endorse the manifesto.  

Yvette, who is also a 2014 AVAC Advocacy Fellow and celebrated as one of South Africa’s leading human rights activists, lays out why The Choice Manifesto matters and how advocates are leveraging it. 

Resources

The More We Know

Evolving our understanding of PrEP for cisgender women

Science and real-world experience continue to demand a re-assessment of our collective understanding of the safety and effectiveness of PrEP options for women, including oral, vaginal ring, and injectable options. For instance, a new paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo (HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis with Emtricitabine and Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate Among Cisgender Women) challenges the notion, baked into policies, programs and “conventional wisdom”, that cisgender women need to be “super-adherers” to achieve protection utilizing oral PrEP. In this webinar, we discussed this important paper and more.

Speakers:
• Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
• Joyce Ng’ang’a, WACI Health

Moderator:
Raniyah Copeland, Equity & Impact Solutions

Materials:
Recording / Ukrainian Audio / Slides / Resources / Audio Transcript (English/Ukrainian)

Announcing the 2024/25 AVAC Advocacy Fellows

We are pleased to announce our 13th class of the flagship AVAC Advocacy Fellows Program for 2024-2025! This group of seven advocates will participate in an 18-month program that supports their advocacy efforts, invests in the further development of their skills, shapes the agenda for HIV prevention research, and influences how quickly new interventions move into policy and programs in their communities and countries.

AVAC Response to Uganda’s Constitutional Court Ruling on the Anti-Homosexuality Act

AVAC is gravely concerned with the Constitutional Court of Uganda’s recent decision to uphold the core provisions of the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023 (AHA) that was signed into law nearly one year ago. AVAC stands in solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community in Uganda, and globally, in calling out this dangerous law.