May 21, 2020
In this time of COVID-19, new information and new questions arise daily with implications for global health advocacy and for the HIV response at large. In the midst of this, HIV research has taken some major steps forward as well. AVAC has produced a number resources to keep you informed and guide your advocacy on all these issues.
In the Headlines: Research on long-acting PrEP for HIV prevention
AVAC’s Statement on HPTN 083—HPTN 083 stopped the placebo arm of this trial two years early, after a rescheduled review of the data showed the product was at least as good as oral PrEP. AVAC’s statement explains the trial, the findings and talks about what’s next. For a deeper dive into the trial design check out our infographic or the Px Pulse episode on the issue. You can also join an HPTN webinar on the results tomorrow, May 22nd, at 10:30 ET.
COVID-19: Research standing on the shoulders of HIV
- AVAC’s new report, Five “P”s to Watch: Platforms, process, partnerships, payers and participatory practices that drive vaccine development, connects the key issues and lays out how HIV vaccine research is making the search for a COVID-19 vaccine faster, smarter and more inclusive.
- Read HIV Advocates Respond to the COVID-19 Crises, a blog by AVACer Daisy Ouya writing on behalf of the USAID-supported Coalition to Accelerate and Support Prevention Research (CASPR). The blog looks at how the Coalition has adapted skills, resources and networks to empower communities and ease collective suffering.
- Our webinar, The Power–and Pitfalls–of Modeling for COVID-19 and HIV, discusses current COVID-19 models and the benefits and limitations of mathematical models as they apply to both COVID-19 and HIV prevention.
- Listen to a webinar on the COVID-19 vaccine pipeline with Science Magazine’s Jon Cohen. Cohen talks about the rapidly growing pipeline, the direct links to HIV research and the risks of benefits of speeding up the process, including the thorny issue of human challenge trials. While the WHO issued criteria for assessing a challenge study, AVAC and TAG issued a joint statement outlining concerns and necessary prerequesites to consider going forward this way.
- In case you missed it, the latest episode of Px Pulse features a detailed look at the partnerships and innovation that can propel ethical research on HIV and COVID-19, and a status report on how ongoing HIV prevention trials are adapting during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Expanding Our Work: Integrating HIV prevention with sexual and reproductive health
AVAC has long promoted a research agenda centered on women, but both the ECHO trial results and the rollout of PrEP have highlighted the urgent need to bring proven interventions for both HIV and sexual and reproductive health to the women who need them. In our blog Programs, Products, Services and Users: HIV & SRH integration is the future of prevention we outline our expanding advocacy to advance HIV/SRH integration, introduce a suite of new resources and our new page on avac.org devoted to HIV/SRH integration.