Bahati is a rising advocate from Tanzania, advancing the rights and well-being of people living with HIV (PLHIV), women, youth and marginalized communities. She has professional experience in the HIV response as a programs officer. She is also community representative in several spaces, including Tanzania Commission for AIDS, Medicines Patent Pool, AfroCAB and UNITAID. As an AVAC 2024 Advocacy Fellow, Bahati will focus on the scale-up of U=U for better health outcomes for those living with HIV as well as lower rates of HIV transmission among their sexual partners. She believes in a future where health, gender equity, and social justice intersect to create a world of inclusivity and empowerment.
Bahati Thomas Haule
Elina Mwasinga
Elina is an experienced advocate focused on HIV/AIDS and Sexual Reproductive Health & Rights (SRHR). She wears many hats as an expert and as an advocate. Her positions include national coordinator for the National Association for Young People Living with HIV, a member of AVAC’s Cure ROAR program, a fellow alumni of the Advocacy for Cure Academy, a member of the board of trustees for the Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation, a member of the Coalition of Women Living with HIV (COWLHA) the Youth Forum for National Transformation (YOFONAT). As an AVAC 2024 Advocacy Fellow, Elina’s focus is on U=U and viral load suppression in children as a pathway to an HIV cure.
Press Release
Funding for HIV Survives Extreme Cuts Proposed By House Republicans
Final FY24 Bill Includes Calls for HHS/CDC to Increase PrEP Access
21 March 2024 – PrEP4All, AVAC, HIVMA, and the PrEP in Black America coalition celebrate Congress’ decision to both fund domestic HIV programs at the same level as last year and to lift up calls for a National PrEP Program. The final 2024 Health and Human Services bill rejects extreme cuts to HIV funding proposed by House Republicans in July of last year. The organizations have led the charge on the #SaveHIVFunding campaign following efforts to eliminate $767M in critical funds to end HIV as an epidemic. We additionally thank House and Senate LHHS Appropriations Subcommittee leaders Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Representatives Robert Aderholt (R-AL) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) for working to ensure an effective and ultimately bipartisan outcome.
“Our movement for a National PrEP Program and to end HIV as an epidemic remains strong,” says PrEP4All Executive Director Jeremiah Johnson. “The final bill ultimately shows strong bipartisan support for HIV funding, including PrEP, and rejects the flawed effort by some House Republicans to zero out the Ending the HIV Epidemic Program. We created the #SaveHIVFunding campaign in collaboration with AVAC, HIVMA, and PrEP in Black America knowing that everyone in Congress needed to hear from community advocates in order to be successful in fighting these unnecessary deep cuts. Without this work and the concerted and brilliant efforts of so many HIV organizations within the Federal AIDS Policy Partnership, this win would not have been possible.”
The outcome means that a previous $25M increase going toward CDC’s efforts to improve equitable PrEP access will be preserved, which is critical as advocates continue to engage with CDC on ways to establish a foundation for a National PrEP Program using existing funds. Congress also included final report language directing CDC to increase access to PrEP and cited previous calls from the Senate to establish the “building blocks of a national program to increase awareness of PrEP, increase access to PrEP medication, [and] laboratory services…”
“This outcome is a win for Black communities across the nation who are disproportionately impacted by HIV. Making life-saving treatment and prevention a reality for Black Americans is a possibility because of our relentless advocacy work to #SaveHIVFunding,” says Raniyah Copeland, Founding member of the PrEP in Black America Coalition and Founder of Equity Impact Solutions.
“This has been a long process, and we are grateful to have an outcome that leaves us on firm footing to realize the vision of a National PrEP Program,” says Andrea Weddle of HIVMA. “However, the fight for FY25 is already upon us following this prolonged budget process; meaning that advocates will have to remain vigilant, fight to protect our existing funding, and continue to ensure a clear, immediate, and fully funded pathway toward equitable PrEP access.”
“This is very encouraging news for PrEP advocates, especially following the President’s reintroduction of his proposal for a National PrEP Program last week.” Explains John Meade, Senior Program Manager for Policy at AVAC . “Combined with HIV/AIDS housing advocates’ victory in achieving an FY24 funding increase, I am so proud of our movement and our ability to rally in the face of these threats.”
A National PrEP Program would be a cost effective means to achieve our national goal of Ending the HIV Epidemic by 2030. Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is a 99% effective use of medication to prevent HIV. Unfortunately 64% of people who could benefit from PrEP do not have access to it. A new study shows that states with the highest PrEP coverage showed an annual percentage decrease in HIV diagnoses of 8% from 2012 – 2021. In contrast, states with low PrEP coverage increased 2% annually. A National PrEP Program will increase access among people who could benefit and address major disparities in access related to race, gender and geographic location. “In the current political environment, this Congressional action is especially noteworthy. But we must never confuse this progress with success; our fights for funding, equity and impact in treating and preventing this epidemic must continue, and funding and implementing a national PrEP program at scale and with urgency remains a huge priority,” said Mitchell Warren, Executive Director of AVAC.
Read the full press release here.
New issue of POSITIVELY AWARE points the way towards a more equitable future
In many ways the world is entering an era of HIV prevention that many of us have spent the last 40 years fighting for— there now exists multiple options for preventing HIV that are safe, highly effective and easy to use. 2012 saw the introduction of the first ARV-based prevention option—daily oral PrEP. And over the past two years, WHO recommended, and several national regulatory agencies have approved, injectable ARVs for treatment and prevention, as well as the dapvirine vaginal ring.
While these advances are something to celebrate, this is far from the end of the road. Technological gains only go as far as people’s awareness of them, desire to use them, and access to them. And this is where we — as a public health community and as a planet of humans — struggle. Just like with the first ARV therapies in the mid 1990s, and the first PrEP pill for prevention a decade ago, we’re now four years into the FDA approval of the first long-acting ARV therapy and we are several years away from scaling up these long-acting medications and truly seeing the impact they can have on the lives of people (whether living with HIV or in need of PrEP), and on the HIV epidemic itself.
It takes the HIV response far too long to move these innovative inventions to the point where they become medical miracles, experienced by everyone who needs and wants them, regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex assigned at birth, pregnancy status or income.
There is a new special issue of the magazine POSITIVELY AWARE, co-edited by Kenyon Farrow, AVAC’s communications director, and Jim Pickett, AVAC’s senior advisor and lead of the Choice Agenda, that explores the impact of long-acting injectable treatment and PrEP. The articles, including a piece co-authored by John Meade, AVAC’s senior policy manager, and Danielle Campbell of PrEP in Black America and longtime AVAC partner, speak to the humans involved in downstream research, and what their experiences as patients, researchers, advocates and medical providers of long-acting treatment and PrEP teach us about how these products could be transformative. These stories make clear how far we still have to go to change our health systems so that they can meet their maximum potential.
AVAC will continue our work to advocate for global equity in access to prevention and treatment in all their current and future forms. We celebrate this issue of POSITIVELY AWARE as one collection of voices helping to point the way towards a more equitable future.
From Brisbane to Chicago: A look at STIs, HIV and global health
Late July saw two nearly simultaneous conferences on the future of research and advocacy for HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). IAS 2023 in Brisbane and the 2023 STI and HIV World Congress (also known as ISSTDR) in Chicago are landmark annual events. Both conferences bring together civil society, advocates, policy makers, donors and scientists to share the latest scientific findings and discuss where advocacy is needed to both advance research and ensure equity informs every aspect of the development process, from basic science to delivering new interventions. There may be two gatherings, but it’s one vital conversation. HIV and STIs are inextricably linked, affecting the same communities, who face the same barriers to care and prevention against these health threats. At AVAC, we see the links and we are making the connections. Below we offer highlights from these two all-important world gatherings, and check out our recent webinar linking these conversations, Tales from Two Cities: HIV and STI research highlights from Brisbane and Chicago.
AVAC at IAS
Taking prevention to the next level: Packaging PrEP with primary health care services as a pathway to achieving 2030 HIV prevention and universal health coverage goals
This satellite, co-sponsored by PATH, IAS, WHO and AVAC, put a spotlight on integrated, person-centered care, a central theme of the 2023 UNAIDS report launched at IAS 2023, The Path That Ends AIDS. UNAIDS reports that investing in person-centered priorities such as community-led services, integrating primary health care with HIV services, and a strong health workforce brings down incidence. And the pressure to scale up these approaches remains essential. According to the latest statistics in the report, only 42% of districts in African countries with very high HIV incidence are covered by prevention programs. Even more chilling, 4,000 adolescent girls and young women acquire HIV every week.A presentation in this session by former AVAC Fellow and CASPR partner Chilufya Kasanda from Zambia’s TALC put a face and a voice to this story. In Zambia, youth friendly services are scarce or non-existent, high rates of mental health issues are utterly neglected, and donors “flock to a few locations and leave out those who are most in need.” She said community advocates are too often dismissed as “people just making noise.” But, said Chilufyia, it’s young people who must receive support, their leadership must be nurtured and funded, and messages should be tailored just for them. “Young people need to know that pleasure, not only risk, is attached to sex. To get to pleasure, you need to be safe, that is the message.” Another AVAC Fellow, Elizabeth Onyango from Kenya’s Coast Sex Workers Alliance, called for accelerating access to the dapivirine vaginal ring. “Why is the ring not in our vaginas? Male condoms even come in different flavors! This is a women-first product and it needs more investment.”
Regaining lost ground for HIV prevention: Acting on lessons learned from oral PrEP scale-up new PrEP method mix
Prevention will fail if the HIV response remains narrowly focused on products. Oral PrEP has brought invaluable lessons we have yet to learn about how to get programming right so that effective products actually reach those who need them. As AVAC Executive Director Mitchell Warren said at the conference, reflecting on the status of PrEP uptake since FDA approval in 2012- “Only 4m global PrEP initiations in 12 years is an epic failure. Science has given us products that work, but our policies and programs have failed to meet the needs.”
This session featured presentations from AVAC on a package of tools called, Getting Rollout Right and the work of the Coalition to Accelerate Access to Long-Acting PrEP. Daniel Were of Jhpiego talked about lessons from the Jilinde project, Kenya’s ambitious program to deliver PrEP. The project adapted in real time to reach more people by recognizing that peer networks are essential, that stopping and starting PrEP is common, and that provider attitudes can be difficult to change. Daniel stressed the importance of focusing deeply on the people who need to use these products.
HIV Cure & Immunotherapy Forum
This preconference forum on HIV cure research featured innovative presentations tracking the progress toward an HIV cure. AVAC Senior Program Manager Jessica Salzwedel participated in a panel discussion on the importance of increasing diversity throughout HIV cure research from trial participants, to advocates, to researchers. The session also featured the release of a new resource on community preferred language for HIV cure.
bnAbs: From prevention to cure
This session covered the potential for research on broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) to inform strategies for both prevention and cure. AVAC partner Maureen Luba joined the panel discussion to applaud collaboration among the bNAb researchers working in prevention and cure, and she called for the same collaboration with communities. She said research budgets for community engagement should reflect the importance of community leadership right from the beginning, to ensure success in the future. Maureen added “thinking about cost and choice is the elephant in the room. The resource envelope for HIV prevention is not expanding enough. Countries will be asking ‘where will we get the money [for bNAbs].’ We have to think about cost effectiveness now.”
Next Gen HIV Prevention research: Clinical Trials in an era of highly effective standards of care
Investigators and advocates discussed innovative methods to test how new interventions compare to oral PrEP, and how to also make comparisons to HIV incidence in a given community. Models of community engagement were just as important in the conversation. Ntando Yola of APHA described robust programs that brought community members along as these complex new trial designs were developed. Investing in Good Participatory Practicemeans investing “in the platforms that equip and empower communities and advocates,” said Ntando. And for more on how trial design is evolving, check out AVAC’s Evolving Designs for HIV Prevention Trials.
AVAC at the STI & HIV World Congress
The STI Prevention Pipeline: Where Are We, and What Will It Take to Move Forward Faster?
This session on the state of the field offered updates on how STI prevalence and incidence rates are estimated, STI vaccine acceptance, STI test development, and information on the first US STI National Strategic Plan and Federal Implementation Plan. The session included discussions about advocacy priorities in each of these areas, with discussions continuing in the Advocacy Zone throughout the conference (see below). For more on the STI pipeline, check out the resource pages on STIwatch.org.
Setting Up a Remote/Home Testing STI Programme: A Practical Toolkit
This session explored the power of remote testing to curb STI acquisitions. Remote and home-testing brings many benefits. It’s convenient, overcomes barriers from stigma, offers privacy, reflects trauma-informed principles, and can overcome structural barriers. For the status of testing for several STIs go to the pathogen pages on STIwatch.org.
Symposium: New Vaccine Approaches to STI Prevention, STI Vaccine Acceptance, and Equity
This symposium shared progress on STI vaccine research and examined the question, “what factors could influence acceptance of STI vaccines and how do we ensure equitable access to these vaccines”. AVAC’s Dr. Alison Footman referenced the disparities in the COVID-19 vaccine and how vaccine access can differ due to income, health insurance, and region. Considerations around equity, access, vaccine hesitancy, vaccine confidence, and vaccine awareness must be confronted as an integrated part of the advocacy for STI vaccine development. This session provided a platform for framing these issues and developing an agenda for advocacy.
ISSTDR Advocacy Zone
AVAC hosted an Advocacy Zone at the conference, which bubbled with activity throughout the meeting. Advocates used this space to weigh in on questions and share perspectives on how the STI field can grow and how advocacy can equitably advance the field. Overall themes included the need to normalize sexual health, center pleasure in STI conversations and the urgency for increased funding to support STI prevention and research.
Spotlight on WHO News at Both Conferences
The WHO made headlines from Brisbane and Chicago, with major announcements and research findings that will be shaping global health for years to come.
U=U and Zero Risk
In a policy brief released at IAS 2023, the WHO directly affirmed zero risk of HIV transmission from people living with HIV who have an undetectable viral load using any WHO-approved test and who adhere to treatment. The brief, The role of HIV viral suppression in improving individual health and reducing transmission, also emphasizes the importance of expanding viral load testing, particularly in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) where access to testing falls far short of the need. The Lancet also published the WHO’s systematic review of the data behind this finding, championed since 2016 by the U=U campaign (undetectable=untransmittable).
A Call to Expand HIV Self-testing
Also from Brisbane, the WHO announced new HIV testing guidelines, calling for countries to expand use of HIV self-testing (HIVST) and to promote testing through social networks. In a July 22 press release, the WHO said, “These recommendations are issued at a moment of unique opportunity, when self-care and self-testing are increasingly being recognized as ways to increase access, efficiency, effectiveness and acceptability of health care across many different disease areas, including HIV.”
Surveillance of Mpox
The WHO presented their mpox surveillance data in Brisbane, building on findings reported at the Conference of Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections that showed mpox severely impacts people living with HIV (PLHIV) who have a very low CD4 T-cell count. The WHO analysis draws from a larger set of data than was presented at CROI, and it found PLHIV with advanced immunosuppression were twice as likely to be hospitalized than people who are HIV-negative. See the aidsmap article for details.
Guidance on STIs
WHO called for better access to testing and diagnostic services at the STI & HIV World Congress. Its new guidance on testing and diagnostics includes: target product profiles (TPPs) for point-of-care tests for STIs, to diagnose syphilis, chlamydia trachomatis, neisseria gonorrhoeae and trichomonas vaginalis; and an updated edition of The diagnostic landscape for sexually transmitted infections featuring tools to scale up screening for syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhoea, trichomoniasis, mycoplasma, herpes, and human papillomavirus (HPV) in LMICs. Earlier this year, the WHO approved its multi-year implementation strategy for HIV and STIs. For more information on the status of diagnostics and vaccines for STIs, go to STIwatch.org.
HIV Research Highlights
Women Want CAB for PrEP as a Choice in HIV Prevention
Researchers presented findings from the open label extension study of HPTN 084 studying injectable cabotegravir (CAB) for PrEP, among individuals born female. Among 2500 participants in seven African countries, nearly 78% chose injectable CAB and 22% preferred oral PrEP. And a related study, HPTN 084-01, also found CAB for PrEP was generally acceptable to a small study of cisgender adolescent women in a study conducted in South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. 92% opted to continue use of CAB for PrEP in the open label extension. The study also found that engagement of parents or guardians could be pivotal, providing young women with the support they need to make choices with confidence. The HPTN’s Erica Hamilton said the study reinforces how much choice matters. “The efficacy of CAB for PrEP was reassuring, but some participants still preferred the oral tablet [which also has very high efficacy] for various reasons.”
New Data on VMMC Among Gay Men and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM)
A small but noteworthy study from eight cities in China showed VMMC offered protection against HIV transmission among MSM. Researchers say this first randomly controlled trial demonstrating efficacy among MSM should be followed up by larger trials.
Tracking the Inclusion of Transgender People in Research
The launch of AVAC and the Office of HIV/AIDS Network Coordination’s (HANC) Clinical Trial Scoring Tool, provided an initial analysis of the inclusion of transgender people in HIV research and a tool for tracking inclusion in the future. This tool generated great excitement during the poster session. The score card evaluating HIV research since 1991 found less than 1% of participants in 41 key HIV studies included transgender populations. “Dozens of attendees from Harare to Montreal to Hyderabad had questions and expressed interest in using the scorecard and applying it to other populations, too.”
Cure at IAS 2023
The “Chicago Patient” was first presented at CROI 2023 and is the first known case of rebound from a bone marrow transplant where the donor did NOT have a critical and rare mutation to what is called the CCR5 receptor, which is found on certain human immune cells. The individual decided to go back on therapy after two consecutive detectable viral loads. This case is interesting because it suggests that reservoir cells may persist even after extreme clearance measures that are part of a stem cell transplant.
The “Geneva Patient” is the potential sixth cure for HIV. This individual received a bone marrow transplant from a donor with wild type CCR5 — meaning they did not have natural immunity to HIV. The individual experienced severe graft vs. host disease, a complication where the new immune system attacks the host. No virus can be found 20 months off therapy using the most sensitive assays. The medication used to stop the effects of graft vs. host disease promotes latency, meaning the reservoir cells have a harder time reactivating. Researchers are excited about this case because it provides clues on the role of the immune system in clearance and potential pathways toward an HIV cure.
The 5 cases of pediatric control were presented by Gabriela Chaumet of University Kwa Zulu-Natal. This longitudinal study followed 281 mother-infant pairs with in utero transmission. The children were started on ART soon after birth and about 92% were exposed to ART in utero through the placenta. Five of the children, all male at birth, who were not adherent to ART were able to control the virus below detectable levels without therapy. However, Only 40% of the infant cohort was male. The study suggests the importance of the virus itself and indicates the need to further understand the impact sex & gender may have on future HIV cure strategies.
STI Research Highlights
GPP on the STI Map
From two different sessions in Chicago, a GPP champion and San Francisco’s Bridge HIV medical director Dr. Hyman Scott called out the power of Good Participatory Practice. In sessions on Biomedical Prevention for STIs and HIV and Addressing the HIV and STI Syndemic, Hyman’s presentations called for GPP to be implemented broadly. “I am really glad to see AVAC at this conference. We need GPP to hold us accountable,” said Hyman. CASPR partner Zinhle Sokhela of Wits RHI also gave background on GPP during the session Centering Equity, Inclusion and Diversity in STI/HIV Research and referenced a Cameroon and Cambodia PrEP trial that ended prematurely due to lack of effective community engagement. “The [GPP] guidelines help prevent misunderstanding and miscommunication among researchers and stakeholders.”
Antimicrobial Resistance and New Drugs in the Pipeline
Resistance to existing antibiotics for different STIs is spurring a hunt for alternative drugs. The conference presented encouraging early findings on new interventions for herpes simplex virus (HSV) and mycoplasma genitalium (M. genitalium), which cause urethritis and other diseases. A retrospective review of data from 165 patients found minocycline cured 2/3 of the resistant cases of M. genitalium. Phase II studies of pritelivir demonstrated superiority over the standard of care for resistant cases of HSV.
Women and DoxyPEP
Dr. Jenell Stewart presented additional data on the DoxyPEP study out of Kenya and found, from hair testing analyses, that 44% of women assigned to DoxyPEP may have not taken any of the medication. This could be one reason why DoxyPEP has not shown efficacy among women, from data that was previously presented at CROI 2023. Watch this space for more data coming out of the D-PEP Kenya study, including a look at the correlation between PrEP and DoxyPEP adherence, as well as conversations about future research of DoxyPEP in cisgender women.
The Promise of Self-Testing
A presentation by Preventx, a UK-based supplier of self-testing kits, featured their analysis that remote/home-testing led to the diagnosis of a similar number of STIs as those diagnosed in the clinic. Preventx shared that out of 2.2 million kits ordered over a given period of time, they saw a high rate of return, with 1.8 million kits returned.
This cross section of research, advocacy and innovation in STIs and HIV should be a call to action for all of us who see how equity and sexual health cannot be siloed.
P.S. In case you missed it, AVAC recently launched the latest HIV Prevention and Cure Resource Tracking Reports. Find all the details here.
AVAC at the 2023 Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit
The Biomedical HIV Prevention Summit, now in its seventh year, will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 11-12. This annual meeting focuses on biomedical interventions for treatment and prevention of HIV and approaches to implementation of these tools to end the epidemic.
This year’s theme highlights the role of sex and pleasure and includes a plenary featuring advocacy to right the wrongs of a failed US federal PrEP response with a US National PrEP Program.
AVAC and partners are involved in a number of sessions and activities; scroll down for information on these and click here to check out the full conference agenda.
And finally, be sure to follow our Twitter feed, @HIVpxresearch, Tuesday, April 11, when our Senior Program Manager for Policy, John Meade Jr., takes it over to report on the meeting live from Las Vegas.
AVAC and Partners at the Biomedical Prevention Summit
Tuesday, April 11:
10:30 to 12:00 PM PDT: No Data No More: A research scorecard for transgender inclusion
Session 1 Workshop
If we are to end the epidemic, we need biomedical research data that are representative of transgender communities. AVAC has designed a Scorecard tool with which to hold researchers accountable for the meaningful inclusion of transgender people in all HIV clinical trials. Join this session to learn how milestone HIV studies from 1991-the present have scored on transgender inclusion—and how you can ensure “No Data No More.”
4:30 to 6:00 PM EDT: Long-Acting Injectables: Revolutionary prevention drugs require revolutionary adaptations in delivery
Session 3 Workshop
Current delivery models for longer-acting injectable (LAI) PrEP require consumers to travel to outpatient settings and be seen by providers qualified to deliver injections. Yet, many providers serving HIV-impacted populations do not have sufficient capacity to offer LAI PrEP at the volume necessary to end the epidemic. Additionally, structural barriers and serious inequities within the United States healthcare system prevent many from engaging in HIV prevention. This workshop will explore how the HIV prevention community can draw lessons from other fields to successfully develop, advocate for, and implement alternative delivery models for LAI to increase access, and realize the promise of these revolutionary interventions.
4:30 to 6:00 PM PDT: PrEP in Black America: An equity movement in HIV prevention
Session 3 Workshop
Black people in the US bear a disproportionate burden of HIV, representing approximately 13 percent of the population while comprising more than 40 percent of incident HIV diagnoses in 2019. Despite this, biomedical HIV prevention tools remain underutilized by Black people and more than 90 percent of those who can benefit from PrEP have not been prescribed PrEP. The PrEP in Black America Summit (PIBA) was convened by a cadre of Black HIV activists, advocates, leaders, and public health professionals to address these frustrating factors on the 10th anniversary of the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the first medication for biomedical HIV prevention. Summit leaders gathered more than 150 individuals, in person and virtual, in the spirit of confronting the historical injustices and race-based discrimination that continue to drive HIV and other sexual health inequities experienced by Black communities to develop a Black-focused agenda or “roadmap” for HIV prevention.
Wednesday, April 12:
10:30 to 12:00 PM PDT: CAB 4 PrEP: Opportunity for advancing equity and improving access
Session 4 Workshop
Injectable PrEP uptake in the US has the potential to reduce HIV infections, but only if its introduction can address the impediments to its implementation. Participants will engage with panelists that have experience with injectable cabotegravir in this workshop.
Avac Event
U=U Advocacy Webinar
Because we believe in it, we will advocate for it!
Speakers:
- Cindra Feuer — Senior Program Manager at AVAC
- Alice Kayongo — Public health worker in Uganda
- Winifred Ikilai — National Forum of PLHA Networks Uganda
Time and Login Details
February 11, 2022 from 4-5:30PM CAT/SAST
Join us on Zoom. Meeting ID: 847 9660 1011; passcode: 262309
Avac Event
HIV Drug Therapy Glasgow 2018
The program is of interest to clinical investigators from across the globe to review current research and to discuss its implications for HIV management strategies. In addition to looking at these treatment issues, the Congress is moving into areas, such as prevention, with time in the program focused on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and issues across Europe and beyond.
The important role of people living with HIV in treatment decisions and self-management continues to feature, and we look forward to a number of perspective from the community.
For more information, visit hivglasgow.org, or download a flyer.
Avac Event
New WHO Guidelines for HIV Testing Services Webinar
A critical first step in achieving the 90-90-90 targets proposed by UNAIDS is ensuring that 90 percent of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status by 2020. This is an ambitious goal, as currently only half of people living with HIV know their status. The recently released WHO HIV testing guidelines address and respond to this reality. The WHO’s Dr. Rachel Baggaley, unpacked the HIV testing guidelines and highlighted the need-to-know specifics of the new guidelines.
Listen to the recording here.
View the slides here.
Avac Event
WHO Guidelines on when to start antiretroviral therapy and on pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV
WHO recently issued an “Early Release Guideline” on when to start antiretroviral therapy and on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV. This document recommends 1) initiation of ART in adults living with HIV, regardless of CD4 cell count, and 2) offer of PrEP as a prevention option to all people at substantial risk of acquiring HIV. (The release is “early” relative to a comprehensive update of its consolidated ARV guidelines, slated to come out at the end of the year.) If implemented, these sweeping recommendations have the potential to change the world by simplifying ART for people living with HIV and revolutionizing prevention for people at risk.
In this webinar, Meg Doherty and Bob Grant from the Department of HIV/AIDS at WHO, spoke about the guideline and took questions. Links to the full presentation, slides and audio are below.
And for more background, Meg Doherty gave a presentation at IAS 2015 in Vancouver. Download the slides or view the presentation.