Avac Event
Thursday, November 9 at 8:00 AM ET
Hear results from STI landscaping projects conducted in seven different countries from East and Southern Africa that explored needs for STI vaccines and diagnostics.
Recording / Lesotho Network of AIDS Service Organizations (LENASO) Slides / HIV Survivors and Partners Network (HIVSPN) Slides / Pangaea Zimbabwe AIDS Trust (PZAT) Slides / Nyanza Reproductive Health Society (NRHS) Slides
Avac Event
Tuesday, November 7 at 9:00 AM ET
Hear results from STI landscaping projects conducted in seven different countries from East and Southern Africa that explored needs for STI vaccines and diagnostics.
Recording / Latu Human Rights Foundation Slides / ACTS 101 Uganda Slides / Journalists Association Against AIDS (JournAIDS) Slides
Avac Event
In advance of the Strategies for an HIV Cure meeting, AVAC is hosting a foundational training for lay audiences interested in building their knowledge of HIV cure research. Through interactive sessions led by leading experts in the field, the meeting will provide attendees the ability to understand and translate basic science information.
The program will feature: Janet Siliciano, Deborah Persaud, Steven Deeks, Rebecca Lynch and David Margolis.
Recording of Dr. Janet Siliciano Presentation / Recording of Dr. Adam Ward Presentation / Recording of Dr. Deeks, Dr. Persaud, Dr. Joseph, Dr. Jones Presentation
A breakdown of current HIV mRNA trials and a primer on the basics of mRNA technology.
Avac Event
On October 5, The Choice Agenda (TCA) and the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD) hosted a discussion on the roll out of Doxycycline as STI PEP for helping gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men and transgender women reduce bacterial STIs, including gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis.
Speakers:
Dr. Taimur Khan, Fenway Health
Cait Shea, NCSD
Kendrick Clack, NP, Crofoot MD Clinic/Research Center
Lee Vaughn-Ogin, Bigger Blacker Book
In recent weeks, important new resources for advancing choice in HIV prevention have been announced. Don’t miss these highlights from the field. They point to an HIV response in transition, and help to define the role advocacy must play. As policy, practice and budgets strive to keep up with advances in research, advocacy around choice becomes a cross-cutting priority—so that the promise of new options in HIV prevention won’t be squandered in siloed programs, or by poorly-planned supply chains, or because of disconnected policy decisions. People have diverse needs and face complex challenges; ending HIV depends on finding the option that works best for each individual.
The Choice Manifesto 
The African Women’s HIV Prevention Community Accounability Board (AWPCAB) launched the HIV Prevention Choice Manifesto, calling for increased political and financial support to ensure every proven method of HIV prevention is integrated into the HIV response, so that all women who need prevention will have access to the options that will make prevention possible for them. At the launch event in Kampala, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima gave a keynote address in support of the Manifesto’s call for all stakeholders to commit to the budgets and strategies that will make choice possible.
“I congratulate you for the HIV Prevention Choice Manifesto. It’s about pushing everyone towards people-centered, women-centered and women-led approaches to HIV prevention. You have fought with your lives to get here. You are fearless feminists. Women must lead for themselves.” – Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS Executive Director
Learn more about the HIV Prevention Choice Manifesto and other advocacy resources for choice in our latest AVAC blog, Reclaiming Choice: The launch of the HIV Prevention Choice Manifesto and what that means.
The Dual Prevention Pill (DPP)
The DPP Consortium created a multiyear strategy to frame priorities and next steps in the development and delivery of the dual prevention pill (DPP), which is being developed to prevent HIV and unintended pregnancy. This multipurpose prevention technology (MPT) combines oral PrEP with an oral contraceptive. The updated strategy consolidates two years of progress toward preparing the field for new MPTs. The strategy addresses additions to the MPT pipeline, the potential role of the private sector in delivering a future DPP, recommendations for provider counseling on the use of the DPP, market research on potential DPP users, the latest analysis on cost, and more.
Stay tuned for more resources and updates to come on the DPP, the Choice Manifesto, and tools for connecting choice to HIV prevention, ending the epidemic and the role of choice in global health equity in HIV, and beyond.
We are delighted to share the new and improved AVAC.org! On our new site, you can easily access all the great data, policy analysis, tools and resources that you’ve come to expect from AVAC, including our much-loved infographics, podcasts, Weekly NewsDigest and Pandemic Watch, webinars, research literacy materials and so much more!
The updated AVAC.org also reflects the expanded vision and practice of our dynamic programs. AVAC will always work to accelerate ethical development and equitable delivery of effective HIV prevention options. But, we also know that responding to HIV and preparing for future pandemics requires a comprehensive, integrated, and sustained response that is rights-based, people-centered and evidence-informed.
To AVAC, this means connecting the dots between HIV prevention, sexual and reproductive health and rights, pandemic preparedness, strengthened health systems, research engagement and community leadership. It means recognizing that resilience in global health requires us to confront the threats posed by disparities in access, entrenched stigma, discrimination, criminalizing key populations and inadequate responses to other sexually transmitted infections.
Visit the new AVAC.org for resources, tools and analysis that make these connections as we continue to track and translate the field, including:
And be sure to check out three vital AVAC resources that give you all the information you need on PrEP access, STI vaccine and diagnostics R&D and HIV prevention R&D funding.
We are immensely proud to share these resources with you. We hope these tools and analyses will help to power your advocacy, accelerate ethical development and equitable delivery of effective HIV prevention options, and advance global health equity.
Press Release
Wednesday, August 2, 2023
AVAC enthusiastically applauds the selection of Jeanne Marrazzo, MD, to serve as the new director of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and infectious Disease (NIAID). Dr. Marrazzo brings unparalleled leadership and research expertise to this pivotal role at NIAID, which oversees some of the largest investments to advance research on HIV and sexually transmitted infections in the world, at such a critical moment in global health science and politics.
“Jeanne has been a pioneer in both HIV prevention and STI research and advocacy for many years. This news of her selection as NIAID Director just does not get any better,” said Mitchell Warren, AVAC’s Executive Director. “Given her distinguished career, NIAID’s selection signals a commitment to pursuing a research agenda that is aimed squarely at defeating HIV while safeguarding principles that advance global health equity. Moreover, her appointment reflects the important intersection of science, policy, communications and advocacy that has defined her career thus far.”
“Perhaps most importantly, her longtime championship of community engagement and person-centered research provides a fantastic foundation for this role,” said Manju Chatani-Gada, AVAC’s Director for Partnerships & Capacity Strengthening. “She has always been accessible and provided time, mentorship and support to civil society advocates in breaking down and interpreting science. Ultimately, it is not just what science gets supported at NIAID, but how the science happens and how it is communicated, and Jeanne is the right leader at the right time to build on Dr. Fauci’s legacy.”
Dr. Marrazzo’s research included landmark investigations of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for cisgender women as well as discovery and implementation science research focused on complex issues including hormonal contraception and HIV, antimicrobial resistance in gonorrhea, and other efforts especially as they effect women’s health and livelihoods and exacerbate the impact of infectious diseases. She provided pioneering leadership of the Microbicide Trials Network’s groundbreaking Vaginal and Oral Interventions to Control the Epidemic (VOICE) study, one of the most complex HIV prevention studies ever designed and conducted.
“Jeanne is a remarkable physician, researcher and advocate. We are so optimistic about her ability to connect the dots—between HIV prevention, sexual and reproductive health, and pandemic preparedness, and help solve for the threats of disparities in access, stigma, discrimination and criminalization of key populations,” Warren added.
Dr. Marrazzo will be the first new director of NIAID in nearly 40 years and the first woman in this position. She will also be the first openly gay director of any institute at the NIH. The position was held by Dr. Anthony Fauci, whose vision, passion and commitment to ending the AIDS epidemic and advancing global health research has been an inspiration to AVAC and to so many. Dr. Marrazzo is expected to assume the post as NIAID Director later this year.
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About AVAC: AVAC is an international non-profit organization that leverages its independent voice and global partnerships to accelerate ethical development and equitable delivery of effective HIV prevention options, as part of a comprehensive and integrated pathway to global health equity. Follow AVAC on Twitter @HIVpxresearch; find more at www.avac.org and www.prepwatch.org.
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.
All times listed are local in Brisbane, Australia. Click for a time zone converter.
Sunday, July 23
Tuesday, July 25
Wednesday, July 26
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.
A number of broadly neutralizing antibodies that target various regions of HIV’s Env protein are being developed for HIV prevention.