Avac Event

IAS (International AIDS Society) 2023

The 12th annual conference of the International AIDS Society (IAS) on HIV science takes place July 23–26 in Brisbane, Australia, and virtually. This year’s conference will offer the latest on vaccine and cure science, research updates on broadly neutralizing antibodies, important discussions on trial design in the era of PrEP, the potential of community-led models of care and the importance of integrating services for HIV and sexual and reproductive health (SRH). AVAC and partners will be there! Read on for an overview.

Just ahead of the conference, UNAIDS released their annual state of the epidemic report, The Path that Ends AIDS. The report charts a path that can end AIDS, and documents important progress, but challenges remain. Among them, global resources for HIV are marking another year of decline. With anti-LGTBQIA+ legal actions increasing in the US and in several African countries and reduced resources, efforts to end the epidemic will fail. See AVAC’s new graphic on the issue.

IAS Resources

  • Use AVAC’s Roadmap to find sessions where prevention, pandemic preparedness and the larger issues of global health equity are in the spotlight. You can download it as a sortable spreadsheet or PDF.
  • Follow events in real time, AVAC will offer comments and updates on Twitter, and our friends at NAM/AIDSMAP will be reporting throughout the conference. Join the conversation using the conference hashtag #IAS2023.

Satellites, Sessions and Panels Featuring AVAC and Partners

All times listed are local in Brisbane, Australia. Click for a time zone converter.

Sunday, July 23

Tuesday, July 25

Wednesday, July 26

Poster Presentations

  • No Data No More: A tool to end the exclusion of trans and gender-diverse people in HIV research
  • Raising New Voices in HIV Cure Research: A review of an advocacy-for-cure academy and grant program
  • The Value of Measuring Outcomes of HIV Advocacy: Utilising a novel and participatory approach for advocacy evaluation
  • HIV Prevention Research & Development Investments 2001-2021: Shifting investment priorities fund innovation in a challenging global health landscape
  • Revolution of Transgender Health Programming: The role of transgender activists in Health programming for Malawi

While many will be gathering in Australia for the IAS conference, the 27th International Society for Sexually Transmitted Diseases Research (ISSTDR)is happening in Chicago at the same time – and AVAC will be there, too. Stay tuned for an update later this week for AVAC’s STI Roadmap and dedicated STI conference page. Advocates, implementers and researchers in both fields have much work to do together.

Avac Event

STI & HIV World Congress (ISSTDR) 2023

The STI & HIV World Congress (also known as ISSTDR) kicks off in Chicago, Illinois, USA and AVAC will be there. This is the first major face-to-face meeting of STI & HIV professionals since 2019 and one of the only spaces the global STI community comes together to promote ongoing STI research efforts and exchange information on current investigations. This is also the first time AVAC is attending ISSTDR in hopes of expanding STI advocacy and community engagement.

STI & HIV World Congress Resources 

Visit STIWatch.org, a new resource for the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) community to better understand and advocate for STI vaccine and diagnostics research, development and rollout.

STI & HIV World Congress 2023 Roadmap

Check out some AVAC-featured sessions below.

The STI Prevention Pipeline: Where Are We, and What Will It Take to Move Forward Faster?
Monday, July 24 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM in the Cadmium Room
Join us to explore the current development and implementation stages of STI vaccines and diagnostics and identify ways to accelerate research through advocacy.

Symposium: New Vaccine Approaches to STI Prevention STI Vaccine Acceptance and Equity
Tuesday, July 25 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM in Chicago 6
Join AVAC’s Alison Footman to dive into the topic of STI vaccines and equity as new interventions come into reach.

Setting Up a Remote/Home Testing STI Programme: A Practical Toolkit
Thursday, July 25 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM in Sheraton IV/V Room
Join us to explore the power of remote testing to affordably curb STI acquisitions.

Community Happy Hour 
Monday, July 24, 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Lizzie McNeill’s
Join AVAC and partners for a no frills happy hour for the STI community. All are welcome! 

ISSTDR Advocacy Zone 
Monday, July 24 to Thursday, July 27 at the Exhibit Hall
Visit the Advocacy Zone, a space to ask important questions, connect with fellow STI advocates, and begin to chart next steps in advancing STI R&D.

Celebrating One Year of The Choice Agenda

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! It was one year ago that we introduced The Choice Agenda (TCA) with Jim Pickett in the hopes of creating a space to continue the discussion, debate, and information sharing that has been core to four decades of HIV advocacy and activism in HIV treatment and prevention – and is central to global health equity.

In its first year, we’ve seen close to 1,000 threads on a list serve of 1500+ subscribers covering a broad range of topics from HIV prevention research to sexual health, STIs, PrEP implementation, pleasure, LGBTQIA+ rights, public health, human rights, abortion rights, funding, politics, pandemic preparedness and so much more. We also hosted 18 webinars on an exciting range of topics – with many more to come.

We take this moment to honor the life and work of two of our first subscribers who died this year – the US CDC’s Dawn Smith and Italian activist Giulio Maria Corbelli – each highly consequential, deeply-involved, community-focused and adored.

Today, as we work to make complex science accessible, identify where advocacy and action are needed and pursue bold agendas that improve global responses to HIV and prepare to prevent future pandemics, the TCA’s agenda-setting conversations are more important than ever.

Thank you to everyone who started with the TCA a year ago, who has been a part of the discussion and debate along the way and who are using this platform to continue and who have been part of the discussions and debate.

Take a minute to review our archived resources and webinars, and be sure to sign up for our next two upcoming webinars. Also, if you are interested in joining The Choice Agenda’s global discussion list, reach out to Jim at [email protected].

PrEP (In)equity: Documenting, measuring, and flipping the script towards justice
Tuesday, May 9 at 9:00 AM–10:30AM ET
Featured Speakers: Leisha-McKinley Beach, National HIV/AIDS Consultant, Michael Chancley, PrEP4All, and Patrick Sullivan, Emory University
Register

PrEP That Booty: The latest on rectal microbicide research for the back door
Thursday, June 29 at 9:00 AM–10:30AM ET
Featured Speakers: Jonathan Baker, #RectalRockstar, Craig Hendrix, Johns Hopkins, Juan Michael Porter II, The Body, and Sharon Riddler, University of Pittsburgh
Register

Avac Event

PrEP That Booty: The latest on rectal microbicide research for the back door

Thursday, June 29 at 9:00 AM–10:30AM ET

Most of what we hear about regarding the HIV prevention pipeline is about long-acting, longer-acting, and even longer-acting products that deliver drug throughout the body and require a trained clinician to deliver. However, these attributes are not desirable to many folks, and communities want a range of choices. Researchers and advocates for years have been working on HIV prevention products specifically for the back door (rectum) to provide protection during anal intercourse. These products are user-controlled, non-systemic (the drug stays in the booty and only the booty), and are short-acting, so you don’t have to commit to having a prevention drug in your body for a year or longer. Join us for a dynamic discussion regarding the latest research on Booty PrEP – aka rectal microbicides – with our multi-talented panel.

Speakers include: Jonathan Baker, PA, Laser Surgery Care, Dr. Craig Hendrix, Johns Hopkins, Juan Michael Porter II, The Body, and Dr. Sharon Riddler, University of Pittsburgh

Register here.

Trans Inclusion: Charting HIV Research into the Future: A Manifesto and Scorecard for Advocates and Researchers

Thursday, January 26, 2023


During this webinar, panelists unpacked the No Data No More manifesto and discussed preliminary findings from the TG scorecard, which looked at transgender representation in clinical trials over time. Speaker details, recording, and resources below.

Featured Leigh Ann van der Merwe — Founder and Director: Social, Health & Empowerment Feminist Collective of Transgender Women of Africa; Brian Minalga — AVAC consultant, Trans Inclusion Initiative; and Cindra Feuer — AVAC Senior Program Manager: Partnerships & Capacity Strengthening


Recording / Slides / Resources

Cure

The role of cure in controlling and ending the epidemic

Trans Inclusion: Charting HIV Research into the Future: A Manifesto and Scorecard for Advocates and Researchers

Thursday, January 26, 2023

This webinar featured Leigh Ann van der Merwe — Founder and Director: Social, Health & Empowerment Feminist Collective of Transgender Women of Africa; Brian Minalga — AVAC consultant, Trans Inclusion Initiative; and Cindra Feuer — AVAC Senior Program Manager: Partnerships & Capacity Strengthening.

Recording / Slides / Resources

TB CAB 10-Year Anniversary Evaluation Report 2011–2021 and Podcast

This report details an evaluation of the Global Tuberculosis Community Advisory Board after 10 years of functioning, highlighting strengths, identifying challenging, and illuminating the pathway forward. Visit here for the report and accompanying podcast series.

Product Introduction for Advocates

Basic Elements of Product Introduction for HIV Prevention

This slide deck provides an overview of product introduction, the process of moving products to the “real world”— an interrelated set of actions needed for global and national health systems to incorporate and deliver new, improved or underused technologies.