Grace Kamau

Grace is currently the Regional Coordinator of the Africa Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA). Before her Fellowship project, she was involved in HIV prevention programs with the Bar Hostess Empowerment and Support Programme (BHSP), which supports a membership of more than forty thousand sex workers, and where she worked as project officer coordinating sex workers across Kenya. She was the Secretary of the Sex Worker Alliance for Kenya and sits on the Kenya Technical Advisory body for sex workers.

Fellowship Focus
Grace engaged sex workers and bar hostesses to better facilitate acceptance and engagement with PrEP and microbicides research. She explored the issues and concerns about possible future access to these interventions for sex workers and bar hostesses. As Fellow, she engaged policy makers on the benefits that these potential HIV prevention interventions could have for high-risk groups.

In Their Own Words
Sex workers are an easy target in a time of crisis. Clients feel they can take advantage of them, and law enforcement think they can use them to show that they are implementing COVID-19 measures.

Media

Oliver Kanene

Oliver is the Executive Director at Business for Social Change (BfSC), Zambia. He came to the Fellows program with a wealth of experience as a journalist and development worker with experience in HIV prevention activities. Since 1986, he has used his extensive experience in media and communications to work towards confronting the stigma around HIV/AIDS on many fronts. With support from local and international organizations, he started a newspaper, AIDS & Health News. He has worked with several local, regional and international organisations, including the Zambia Institute of Mass Communications (ZAMCOM) and John Snow Training Institute and Concern Worldwide, among others. Oliver holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree from the University of Tampere in Finland.

Fellowship Focus
Oliver used his extensive media and HIV/AIDS experience to build a cadre of journalists who consistently, accurately and responsibly report on HIV prevention research in Zambia. He also worked toward creating linkages between researchers, civil society and media, thereby contributing to a favorable HIV prevention research environment. He used the MDP 301 trial process as a case study.

In Their Own Words
Science is worthless if it is not shared with people, but sharing can only happen if the media first understand the processes involved.

hivresourcetracking.org

The most up-to-date and comprehensive field-wide estimates for HIV prevention and R&D globally.

In its 16th annual report, the Resource Tracking for HIV Prevention Research & Development Working Group documents research and development spending for the calendar year 2020 and analyzes funding trends spanning twenty years.

Current trends for investment in HIV prevention R&D by technology

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.

New Products Are Needed But a New Paradigm is Essential

With all the talk about new HIV prevention products such as the dapivirine vaginal ring or injectable cabotegravir for PrEP (CAB for PrEP), what’s little understood is how to match proven products with the programs, policies and political will needed to get them to the people who need them. This episode explores the shifting landscape in HIV prevention and how this moment gives the world a chance to finally reimagine how to DELIVER prevention.

We go from big picture to grass roots, and dig into what it’s going to take to reach global targets. There’s a new road map out from the Global HIV Prevention Coalition with a big vision and a new target of less than 370,000 new infections by 2025. And PEPFAR’s new Strategic Direction talks about a target for ending the epidemic as a public health threat by 2030, but how are we going to get there?

This episode brings three perspectives together:

PEPFAR Ambassador Dr. John Nkengasong describes a model to scale up prevention in 5 countries and show impact in 1-2 years.

Executive Director of HEPS-Uganda, and former AVAC Advocacy Fellow, Kenneth Mwehonge talks about the commitments needed from a range of stakeholders to bring the Coalition’s new roadmap to life, and hit 2030 targets.

Lilian Benjamin Mwakyosi, the Executive Director of DARE and former AVAC Advocacy Fellow, talks about the day-to-day obstacles faced by young women who need prevention, what’s working now and what needs to change in HIV prevention programs.

Highlights

  • Listen to the ambassador’s appeal for an aggressive strategy to scale up combination prevention, including injectable cabotegravir for PrEP.

Resources

Project Gel

CAPRISA 008

CONRAD 117

IPM 032 (DREAM)