Press Release

AVAC statement on PEPFAR Blueprint

New York, NY – PEPFAR’s blueprint has enormous potential to accelerate global HIV prevention efforts. It rightly emphasizes that we need to ‘follow the science’ if we intend to deliver life-saving HIV prevention and treatment breakthroughs to millions of people worldwide. The blueprint underscores that success depends on scaling up combinations of effective strategies. It also places much-needed emphasis on voluntary medical male circumcision, which could prevent millions of HIV infections and do so more affordably than almost any other method today.

It’s particularly encouraging that the blueprint focuses on translating scientific breakthroughs into lives saved. Powerful new HIV prevention options could together lead to dramatic reductions in HIV infections, but we don’t have all the information we need to scale them up in the right combinations for various communities. Urgent questions about the real-world use of new prevention tools in combination have been clear for months or even years, yet the work to answer them is barely under way. That’s as unconscionable as it is unnecessary.

The blueprint also recognizes that ending AIDS will not be easy or quick. While current options can have a tremendous impact, continued science and innovation are essential to ultimately halt new HIV infections and deaths from AIDS.

The US has shown great leadership, and now it’s time for the rest of the global community to step up. Frankly, we are not on pace to end AIDS – but we could be. Global agencies, governments, donors and advocates need to work with PEPFAR now to agree on the most urgent priorities, set specific goals and demonstrate real progress within the next year.

A PDF version of this is available for download.

Contact:

Mitchell Warren, mitchell@avac.org, +1-914-661-1536

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About AVAC: Founded in 1995, AVAC is a non-profit organization that uses education, policy analysis, advocacy and a network of global collaborations to accelerate the ethical development and global delivery of AIDS vaccines, male circumcision, microbicides, PrEP and other emerging HIV prevention options as part of a comprehensive response to the pandemic.

Press Release

AVAC report finds that world is already falling behind pace to end AIDS epidemic; five essential actions needed in 2013 to avoid historic missed opportunity

New York, NY – AVAC today issued a “top five” list of global actions needed in 2013 to accelerate HIV prevention efforts and preserve the opportunity to end the AIDS epidemic. The recommendations address urgent, unresolved challenges that threaten the delivery of powerful new HIV prevention methods that could help dramatically reduce the 2.5 million new HIV infections that occur worldwide every year. They include critical actions to speed access to HIV treatment, voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and to safeguard vital new research on vaccines, microbicides, other HIV prevention options and a cure.

“Recent scientific breakthroughs give us reason to be optimistic like never before, but our chances of success are already imperiled,” said Mitchell Warren, AVAC executive director. “Right now, the world isn’t moving as fast as it should be to begin ending the epidemic. There is still time to get back on a winning pace but only with focused, aggressive action now. This can be the year that HIV prevention begins to achieve its potential – in fact, it has to be.”

The priorities are featured in a new report, Achieving the End: One Year and Counting, which offers AVAC’s critical assessment of progress achieved since global leaders began to discuss the opportunity to “begin to end AIDS” in late 2011. The report reflects input from HIV prevention leaders across a broad spectrum.

“We have a narrow window to translate the past year’s excitement into life-saving changes on the ground,” said Dr. Helen Rees, Executive Director of the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (WRHI) in South Africa and a member of AVAC’s board of directors. “The possibility of ending AIDS is very much alive but depends on much bolder leadership, increased coordination and agreement on a clear set of short-term priorities.”

“The world needs immediate answers to the question, ‘What now?’, and then it needs to act on them,” said Warren. “We’ve identified what we believe are the five HIV prevention priorities that can make the greatest possible difference in the coming year. Whether we’re on pace to end AIDS in a year’s time will depend in large part on our success in these areas.”

AVAC’s priority recommendations for 2013 are as follows:

  1. End confusion about “combination prevention” – In 2012, there was long-overdue recognition that different countries will need to implement different combinations of HIV prevention interventions for different populations at risk. But the hard work of defining those combinations and establishing priorities has not been done. In 2013, donors, policy makers and civil society need to be held accountable for choosing, implementing and evaluating the right packages of interventions for specific circumstances.
  2. Close the gaps in the HIV “treatment cascade” – Antiretroviral treatment not only improves and prolongs the lives of those infected, it is among the most powerful HIV prevention strategies available, reducing the risk that an infected person will pass on HIV by up to 96 percent. But only a small proportion of people diagnosed with HIV are linked to antiretroviral treatment and an even smaller share stay on treatment and have their HIV infection suppressed to levels low enough to prevent transmission to others. A range of studies is looking at ways to narrow this gap, but these efforts are uncoordinated and incomplete. In 2013, researchers and funders need to convene and establish a clear research and implementation agenda to close the gaps in the treatment cascade.
  3. Prepare for new non-surgical male circumcision devices – In 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) is expected to approve new male circumcision devices that could eliminate the need for surgery, speed recovery and lower costs in many of the 14 priority African countries where VMMC could reduce HIV infections by 20 percent. While the new devices may not be right for every country or setting, there could be months or years of lost opportunities unless national health leaders immediately take action to evaluate their benefits, costs and optimal uses.
  4. Define and roll out needed PrEP demonstration projects – Global health agencies including WHO and UNAIDS have said they are awaiting the results of real-world demonstration projects before they can provide guidance on the use of PrEP – yet there is no clarity on what range of studies is needed, and few are under way. By the end of 2013, a core set of studies must be defined and moving ahead.
  5. Safeguard HIV prevention research funding – New momentum on research into HIV vaccines, microbicides and other new tools is threatened due to the possibility of federal budget sequestration in the US and similar pressures in other countries. The potential cuts could slow or halt progress on some of the most promising HIV prevention research in many years. Policy makers must have the courage to preserve this vital research in 2013.

“The most urgent questions about new prevention tools have been clear for months or even years, and yet the work to answer them is barely under way,” said Warren. “That’s as unconscionable as it is unnecessary. Millions of lives depend on our ability to pick up the pace.”

The new recommendations build on AVAC’s long-term agenda for global HIV prevention efforts, issued in late 2011. That report, titled simply The End?, established near-, medium- and long-term goals for delivering available prevention interventions, demonstrating potential impact of emerging tools such as PrEP and microbicides, and developing essential new tools, including AIDS vaccines. In addition to the five key priorities for 2013, AVAC’s new report includes key updates to the long-term agenda for global HIV prevention.

A PDF version of this press release is available.

Contact:

Mitchell Warren, mitchell@avac.org, +1-914-661-1536
Kay Marshall, kay@avac.org, +1-347-249-6375

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About AVAC: Founded in 1995, AVAC is a non-profit organization that uses education, policy analysis, advocacy and a network of global collaborations to accelerate the ethical development and global delivery of AIDS vaccines, male circumcision, microbicides, PrEP and other emerging HIV prevention options as part of a comprehensive response to the pandemic.

Africans Call for Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision

Energy was high at the “Call to Action for Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision” session convened by AVAC, Champions for an HIV-Free Generation, PEPFAR, UNAIDS and the WHO. Leaders from across Africa emphasized the potential for VMMC to dramatically reduce infections and save significant treatment and care costs.

Former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa said, “Scaling up this intervention is an urgent priority. Although it means an upfront investment, the results are significant long-term cost savings.” Former Ugandan Vice President Specioza Wandira stressed the need to involve women in every step of VMMC rollout and scale-up: “Women, in their role as sisters, mothers, wives and partners also play a pivotal role in supporting men to make this decision.” Zimbabwean parliamentarian Blessing Chebundo told the moving tale of his decision to get circumcised along with 43 other Zimbabwean lawmakers: “At first I was scared, but later I found out it was almost painless. Every man should consider getting circumcised.” Zambian Chief, Jonathan Mumena XI, the leader of the Kaonde ethnic group which does not practice traditional male circumcision, challenged other leaders to ensure that traditional practices don’t get in the way of saving lives. “What is a culture without a people?,” he asked. AVAC’s Angelo Kaggwa also gave his experience of getting circumcised in Kisumu, Kenya. He challenged the participants to join a coalition of Africans advocating for the accelerated scale-up of VMMC as part of combination HIV prevention. The event also highlighted a new publication by AVAC, UNASO (Uganda), Sonke Gender Justice Network (South Africa) and NEPHAK (Kenya) that is a “Call to Action” on VMMC. Notable African leaders including former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda and former Botswana President Festus Mogae were among the packed room of participants.

PowerPoint presentations from the session are available on the AIDS 2012 website. Learn more about the importance of VMMC as an HIV prevention tool at www.avac.org/malecircumcision and www.malecircumcision.org. For more information on and to join a coalition of Africans advocating for VMMC scale-up visit www.truthaboutVMMC.org.

Click here for more information.

Press Release

African leaders at International AIDS Conference call for scaling up services in east and southern Africa for male circumcision, an evidence-based HIV prevention intervention

Washington, DC — This evening the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization (WHO), AVAC and Champions for an HIV-Free Generation brought together African political and traditional leaders, as well as key figures in the international HIV response, for a satellite event at the 19th International AIDS Conference 2012. This unique group of leaders shared their views on the challenges and solutions to Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) for HIV prevention in East and Southern Africa.

Three clinical trials have proven that VMMC can reduce female to male transmission of HIV by approximately 60%. If scaled up to reach 80% of adolescents and adult men within five years, and coverage is thereafter maintained, VMMC has the potential to avert more than 3.4 million new HIV infections and save an estimated US $16.5 billion in care and treatment costs over the next 15 years. This cost savings could free up fiscal space for other lifesaving prevention, care and treatment interventions. In 2007, WHO and UNAIDS first recommended that countries and regions with high HIV prevalence, but low rates of male circumcision, add VMMC as part of their comprehensive IV prevention portfolio. Progress has been uneven with some countries making significant gains while others have been slow to bring the program to scale. By the end of 2011, at least 1.3 million men had been circumcised. As of March 2012, five years after WHO-UNAIDS recommendations, PEPFAR estimates that about 1.7 million men have been circumcised. This represents more than 8% of the 20.3 million men that need to be circumcised in order to reach 80% coverage of adolescent and adult men in East and Southern Africa.

“Over the next five years, enough men can be circumcised through voluntary medical male circumcision to prevent 3.4 million new HIV infections and save billions in care and treatment costs,” said His Excellency Mr. Benjamin Mkapa, former President of Tanzania and Champion for an HIV-Free Generation. “Scaling up this intervention is an urgent priority. Although it means an upfront investment, the results are significant long-term cost savings.”

In December 2011, UNAIDS, WHO, PEPFAR, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank and the Ministries of Health from 14 priority countries (Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe) committed to a five-year action framework to accelerate scale up of VMMC, and in turn reduce new HIV infections and free-up resources for other crucial interventions. The framework’s immediate “catch-up” phase is designed to quickly achieve coverage of adolescents and adult men who are most likely sexually active. The second phase—“sustainability”—will expand the framework’s reach to finally integrate VMMC into infant health programs.

Her Excellency Dr. Speciosa Wandira, former Vice President of Uganda and Champion for an HIV-Free Generation, emphasized that men need not be the missing link in HIV prevention. She added that political, traditional and community leaders must lead the charge in changing men’s attitudes about their role in HIV prevention.

“I’m proud of the men of Uganda for accepting the good science behind VMMC and stepping up for male circumcision,” said Dr. Wandira. “Women, in their role as sisters, mothers, wives and partners also play a pivotal role in supporting men to make this decision. VMMC is consistent with our values and shows how we, as men and women and as nations, are able and willing to do all we can to protect our health.”

A PDF version of this press release is available.

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The United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)
PEPFAR is the U.S. Government initiative to help save the lives of those suffering from HIV/AIDS around the world. This historic commitment is the largest by any nation to combat a single disease internationally, and PEPFAR investments also help alleviate suffering from other diseases across the global health spectrum. PEPFAR is driven by a shared responsibility among donor and partner nations and others to make smart investments to save lives.

Anjana Padmanabhan
Email: AIDS2012@state.gov
Phone (Office): +1 (202) 663-3419
Phone (Mobile): +1 (240) 505-3531

AVAC
Founded in 1995, AVAC is a nonprofit organization that uses education, policy analysis, advocacy and a network of global collaborations to accelerate the ethical development and global delivery of AIDS vaccines, male circumcision, microbicides, PrEP and other emerging HIV prevention options as part of a comprehensive response to the pandemic.

Kay Marshall
Email: kay@avac.org
Phone: +1 (347) 249-6375

Champions for an HIV-Free Generation
Champions for an HIV-Free Generation is a group of former African presidents and other influential personalities with an aim to mobilize high-level leadership in renewed and revitalized responses to HIV and AIDS in Sub Saharan Africa. The Champions transcend political partisanship to speak freely and independently about the issues that need to be discussed, both publicly and behind the scenes.

Rebecca Aaku
Email: aakur@hivfreechampions.org
Phone: +1 (267) 369-7292
Phone: +1 (267) 7476-1663 / +1 (267) 7233-1488

Press Release

amfAR and AVAC launch Global Action Agenda for Ending AIDS; report lays out policy priorities and milestones through 2015 to hasten a “tipping point” in drive to end AIDS

Washington, DC — Two of the world’s leading AIDS advocacy organizations today released a global action agenda aimed at accelerating progress towards the end of the AIDS epidemic. Announced ahead of the XIX International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., the agenda identifies five major short-term priorities for global AIDS programs together with realistic, annual targets that must be achieved through 2015. The recommended actions, if taken together, could accelerate achievement of a “tipping point” in the global AIDS epidemic, at which — for the first time ever — the number of people gaining access to HIV therapy will outpace the number of people becoming newly infected.

The report, An Action Agenda to End AIDS, was developed by AVAC and amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, and was informed by an analysis of modeling research and consultations with top HIV prevention experts. The Action Agenda, available online at www.EndingAIDS.org, will be the focus of a satellite session at the International AIDS Conference on Monday, July 23 at 6:30pm ET, as well as a press conference on Tuesday, July 24 at 2:00pm ET.

“It’s time for talk about ending AIDS to make way for action,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC. “When we look back a decade from now, we’ll judge ourselves on whether we made the kinds of hard choices outlined in this plan. If we do, we’ll soon begin to bring the epidemic under control, creating a world defined by declining HIV infections and a growing capacity to treat people in need. If we don’t, we will instead witness millions more preventable HIV infections and needless deaths.”

Recent breakthroughs have expanded the range of effective HIV prevention methods and led to new optimism in the AIDS field. After clinical trials demonstrated that antiretroviral treatment (ART) in HIV-positive people can reduce the risk of HIV transmission, and that voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) and other new tools can significantly reduce the risk of HIV infection in HIV-negative people, leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton publicly embraced the possibility of creating an “AIDS-free generation.” Despite these encouraging statements, however, global AIDS efforts continue to lack coherent priorities and are threatened by cuts in funding.

“At this moment of great opportunity, we need to be clear about the critical choices ahead,” said Chris Collins, Vice President and Director of Public Policy at amfAR. “The world can begin to turn the epidemic around within the next three years — but only if we agree on the major priorities, commit to realistic milestones and hold ourselves accountable. This new agenda outlines the critical decisions we need to make in the coming years to put us on a path to beginning to end the AIDS epidemic.”

Year-by-year action steps for all stakeholders

The agenda lays out essential steps that must be taken — year by year through 2015 — by national governments; international organizations, donors and stakeholders; civil society; researchers; and technical agencies. These action steps fall within five overarching priorities:

  • Make hard choices by emphasizing, above all other efforts, the rapid scale-up of core interventions that can have the greatest impact. These include HIV testing and treatment, VMMC, prevention of mother-to-child (vertical) transmission, and evidence-based, human rights-based interventions for gay men, sex workers, injection drug users and others at greatest risk.
  • Mobilize sufficient, sustainable resources to ensure the rapid scale-up of these core interventions.
  • Agree on clear roles and responsibilities and hold one another accountable for results, through agreed timelines, target outcomes, transparent reporting, and real-time assessment of results.
  • Build the evidence base to end AIDS, by prioritizing research on the most effective ways to implement new prevention strategies, as well as the continued search for a preventive vaccine and a cure.
  • Use every dollar of funding as effectively as possible by lowering the unit costs of core interventions, improving program management, and strategically targeting services.

Tracking critical milestones through 2015

In addition, the report lists a series of key results that must be achieved each year from 2012 through 2015 to fully capitalize on recent research advances. These include cutting the numbers of new HIV infections and deaths, as well as more specific epidemiological and policy-based milestones tied to the global scale-up of critical interventions.

By steadily reducing annual new HIV infections and simultaneously continuing to expand access to HIV treatment, the report authors project that a global “tipping point” can be achieved within two to three years. At that time, roughly 1.75 million people would gain access to HIV therapy yearly, exceeding — for the first time ever — the number of annual HIV infections, which would fall close to 1.5 million. This shift would mark a critical step in controlling the global epidemic.

The targets reflect best-case scenario calculations based on published modeling and epidemiological data, as well as analysis provided by experts in the field. A bibliography and explanation of methodology can be found at www.EndingAids.org.

The feasibility of the report’s targets was also reinforced by encouraging new data released by UNAIDS on July 18. The agency reported that more than 8 million people in low- and middle-income countries were receiving HIV therapy in 2011, a 20 percent increase from the year before. Annual HIV infections declined to 2.5 million in 2011, from 2.7 million the year before.

“The past decade has taught us that when global AIDS efforts have clear priorities and realistic targets, they can have a huge impact,” said Nelson Otwoma, National Coordinator of the National Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya (NEPHAK). “We’ve already accomplished so much, and now the opportunities are greater than ever. If we can agree on a plan and act decisively to make it happen, then countries around the world will have much to celebrate in the years ahead.”

AVAC and amfAR will continue to track global progress against the recommendations and targets in the Action Agenda over the coming years. Status updates, analysis and other information will be released periodically and made available on www.EndingAIDs.org.

Top AIDS leaders to discuss Action Agenda at IAC satellite, July 23

On Monday, July 23 at 6:30pm, a panel of top experts will discuss the new Action Agenda and provide their assessments of what advocates, policymakers, and scientific and government leaders must do to ensure that the rhetoric of the International AIDS Conference becomes the foundation for an urgent, systematic plan to end AIDS.

The event will be moderated by celebrated journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault, and will feature Dr. Antony Fauci (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), Dr. Agnes Binagwaho (Minister of Health, Rwanda), Dr. Deborah Birx (CDC Center for Global Health), Dr. Helen Rees (Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute, South Africa) and other prominent global AIDS leaders.

Details of the event are available online.

This press release is also available as a PDF.

Contact:
Kay Marshall, kay@avac.org, +1-347-249-6375
Cub Barrett, cub.barrett@amfar.org, +1-212-806-1602

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About amfAR: amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is one of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy. Since 1985, amfAR has invested more than $340 million in its programs and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide.

About AVAC: Founded in 1995, AVAC is a non-profit organization that uses education, policy analysis, advocacy and a network of global collaborations to accelerate the ethical development and global delivery of AIDS vaccines, male circumcision, microbicides, PrEP and other emerging HIV prevention options as part of a comprehensive response to the pandemic.

Press Release

African and US AIDS advocates issue a call to action ahead of the International AIDS Conference urging global leaders to make voluntary medical male circumcision a priority

New York, NY — African and US AIDS advocates today issued A Call to Action on Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision: Implementing a Key Component of Combination Prevention, a new report calling for rapid scale-up of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) and providing detailed recommendations to increase VMMC rates and prevent millions of HIV infections in African countries in the next decade. The report was jointly developed by AVAC, based in the US; the National Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya (NEPHAK); Sonke Gender Justice Network (Sonke), in South Africa; and the Uganda Network of AIDS Service Organizations (UNASO).

“Voluntary medical male circumcision is one of the most effective HIV prevention tools available today. Countries where VMMC can have an impact should be acting to ensure access—and advocates should be demanding accountability,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC. “At this moment in the epidemic, there are few things that could do more to reduce the human and economic toll of HIV. When the AIDS community gathers this month in Washington, we need to refocus on this inexpensive, one-time intervention that offers men life-long partial protection against HIV.”

Research shows that VMMC could help significantly reduce heterosexual transmission of HIV in key African countries. Long-term follow-up from clinical trials conducted in Africa suggests that VMMC reduces a man’s risk of sexually acquiring HIV from an HIV-positive female partner by as much as 75 percent. Modeling research indicates that achieving 80 percent VMMC coverage among men ages 15-49 in 13 key African countries by 2015 would avert up to 3.36 million new HIV infections by 2025. Meeting this target would also avert $16 billion in future direct AIDS prevention and treatment costs.

The authors note that, given slow progress to date, meeting global targets by 2015 may no longer be possible, representing a major missed opportunity.

“Even if we cannot achieve 80 percent VMMC coverage in all priority countries by 2015, each of these countries should issue a clear timeline for when they will meet their targets,” said Nelson Otwoma, National Coordinator of NEPHAK. “My own country, Kenya, provides a positive example. This essential prevention strategy cannot be allowed to stall as it has for some time in many countries.”

Slow progress punctuated by important successes

The report focuses on VMMC scale-up in 14 African nations (including the addition of Ethiopia, a PEPFAR country) with high HIV prevalence and low coverage of male circumcision. Overall, 1.5 million circumcision procedures have been performed in these countries to date, according to the US-funded PEPFAR program, representing only about 7.7 percent of the estimated 20 million procedures that would achieve 80 percent circumcision coverage among men between ages 15 and 49.

“Circumcision campaigns have barely gotten off the ground in many of the countries where they could help turn the epidemic around,” said Bharam Namanya, Executive Director of UNASO. “That’s unconscionable when we know that voluntary medical male circumcision could prevent so many infections—and do so more affordably than almost any other method.”

The report identifies several major barriers to progress. At the global level, funding for VMMC campaigns remains woefully inadequate. An estimated $1.5 billion over five years will be needed to achieve 80 percent coverage in priority African countries. While this represents a tiny share of current global AIDS funding, current funding commitments for VMMC fall far short.

Insufficient leadership in some African nations is also a significant problem. Relatively few political and community leaders at the national or local levels have become vocal champions for male circumcision, although there have been notable exceptions. Partly as a result, most priority countries still do not have viable VMMC implementation plans in place, and efforts to address stigma, misinformation and logistical challenges have been limited.

“Leadership has always made the difference between winning and losing the battle against AIDS, and it’s no different with voluntary medical male circumcision,” said Desmond Lesejane, Sonke deputy director. “In the few places where leaders have helped make it a national priority and a social norm, we’re seeing impressive increases in male circumcision rates. Where they haven’t, it’s no surprise that we see stigma and inaction.”

The report notes a handful of important success stories, including a large-scale VMMC campaign in Kenya’s Nyanza province. Thanks to close partnerships between health workers and leaders in the region’s Luo community, circumcision rates have climbed from 45 percent in 2008 to above 70 percent today.

Global Call to Action Ahead of the International AIDS Conference

The report includes a comprehensive set of recommendations to address the major barriers to VMMC scale-up. Among these are the following:

  • By the end of 2012, all priority African countries should have detailed national VMMC implementation plans in place.
  • PEPFAR, by far the largest funder of VMMC efforts, should quickly allocate the resources necessary to meet its stated commitment to support 4.7 million circumcisions. At the same time, Europe and middle-income donors must step up their VMMC investments and close the remaining funding gap.
  • Researchers and the World Health Organization should quickly evaluate and approve new devices that may eliminate the need for surgery and reduce the costs and complications of male circumcision in some settings.

The report’s full recommendations, available online, will be the focus of discussions at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, including a forum Call to Action for Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention with African leaders and health experts on July 23.

African coalition seeks to advance VMMC campaigns

To help achieve the report’s vision, a growing coalition of more than 300 African scientists, nurses, doctors, counselors, advocates, artists and journalists has begun working to counter stigma and misinformation about VMMC in African countries, and to pressure African leaders to act. The group, known as Africans Telling the Truth about VMMC, was initially established in response to widespread misinformation about the procedure.

“The story of male circumcision and AIDS is an African story: it’s largely thanks to African scientists, nurses, doctors, and men and women at risk that we have this powerful option,” said Richard Hasunira of HEPS Uganda, a member of the coalition. “We’ll certainly need the support of the global community to succeed in scaling up VMMC. But in the end, Africans must continue to lead.”

Members of the coalition will be working to promote the importance of VMMC as part of a comprehensive approach to HIV prevention, and to help establish the procedure as a cultural norm through its website, www.TruthAboutVMMC.org, and Facebook Page, and through media appearances and events in African countries where VMMC scale-up is a priority.

Separately, this week, a coalition of Ugandan advocates including Hasunira and HEPS Uganda released an analysis and strong critique of progress in bringing VMMC to scale in Uganda. The report, Too Little, Too Late, calls on the nation’s government to take greater ownership of VMMC efforts and calls for steps to overcome barriers to progress. The report is available online here. 

A PDF version of this press release is available here.

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Contact:
Kay Marshall, kay@avac.org, +1-347-249-6375

About AVAC: Founded in 1995, AVAC is a non-profit organization that uses education, policy analysis, advocacy and a network of global collaborations to accelerate the ethical development and global delivery of AIDS vaccines, male circumcision, microbicides, PrEP and other emerging HIV prevention options as part of a comprehensive response to the pandemic.

Africans telling the truth about voluntary medical male circumcision

AVAC team member Angelo Kaggwa is now partnering with other African advocates and AVAC partners, including Simon K’Ondiek at the Nyanza Reproductive Health Society in Kenya and Richard Hasunira at HEPS-Uganda, to lead an initiative called Africans telling the truth about voluntary medical male circumcision. These advocates urge for a speedy and accelerated scale-up of VMMC and other proven HIV prevention interventions across Africa to begin to end the AIDS epidemic. The campaign webpage will be a space for African men, women and allies to voice their support for VMMC, ask questions and voice their concerns.

Angelo himself underwent voluntary medical male circumcision almost a year ago and published an essay about his experience in the April 15 edition of Uganda’s Sunday Vision. The essay, Circumcision: My Experience, discusses Angelo’s decision to get circumcised, details every part of the procedure and healing process and talks about his enthusiasm to see other “busy” young African men get circumcised to reduce their risk of HIV infection.

Click here for more information.

Yes We Can End the Epidemic: AVAC Fellows Orientation 2012

AVAC’s HIV Prevention Research Advocacy Fellows gathered for an orientation and wrap-up session in Kampala at the end of January. Fellows from 2010, 2011 and eight new fellows from 2012 together with their host organization supervisors gathered in Kampala, Uganda, to take stock of recent accomplishments, plans for the future and take steps to forge an African movement to end the AIDS epidemic. The three-day meeting included debates and discussions about how to prioritize prevention strategies that are available today, such as treatment as prevention and voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC), and explorations of the agenda for emerging strategies such as PrEP and microbicides and hoped-for interventions like an effective AIDS vaccine. One highlight was an intensive afternoon session on the potential for influencing the Country Operating Plans that guide the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). These “COPs” can be used to leverage additional resources for the pillars of combination prevention—ARV treatment, VMMC and prevention of pediatric infection. In the coming months, advocates will be participating in intensive country-level campaigns.

Click here for more information.

Many Opportunities for HIV Prevention

To end AIDS, we need HIV prevention options that are highly effective before, during and after exposure or infection. This graphic from AVAC Report 2011 lists some of these tools.

Priority Tools and Actions

This graphic from AVAC Report 2011 outlines the need to define, evaluate and implement combination prevention in every community affected by HIV. The boxes identifies some of the key strategies and actions needed to make this a reality.