The Adolescent Medicine Trials Network (ATN): Research addressing HIV health inequities among US adolescents and young adults
Join us for an overview of the newest cycle of the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network! This webinar will highlight ATN 165: Linking Youth to PrEP Services (LYPS) which tests an innovative mobile delivery and mHealth intervention to optimize PrEP adherence and persistence among sexual minority men, ATN 167: Legal, Economic, and Affirming Peer Support (LEAP) for transgender and gender diverse youth, and how the network prioritizes and amplifies the voices of youth directly impacted by the ATN’s pivotal research.
Speakers Include:
Dr. Lisa Hightow-Weidman, ATN Principal Investigator, College of Nursing Florida State University
Dr. Sybil Hosek, ATN Principal Investigator, University of Illinois-Chicago
Dr. Sari Reisner, University of Michigan School of Public Health
Dr. Kristi Gamarel, University of Michigan School of Public Health
Dr. Kate Muessig, Florida State University
Dr. Audrey Pettifor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Zoe Njemanze, ATN Subject Matter Research Consultant
Kendrick Forte, ATN Subject Matter Research Consultant
Rodrigo Cabrera, ATN National Community Advisory Board
Cervical Cancer Awareness Month Webinar Series (Jan 11 to Feb 1)
Webinar 1: Cervical Cancer: What, where, and prevention and treatment options
Thursday January 11, 8:00AM/4:00PM EAT
This webinar provided an overview of cervical cancer including what cervical cancer is, who is impacted, and prevention and treatment options.
Speakers included: Helen Kelly, Shona Dala, and Maribel Almonte Pacheco, WHO and Michelle Chevalier, US Department of State—Bureau of Global Health Security & Diplomacy/PEPFAR
Webinar 2: Advocacy and Cervical Cancer: Voices that are creating change
Thursday January 18, 8:00AM/4:00PM EAT
During this webinar, we heard from advocates on how they have used their voice to bring more attention to cervical cancer and its impact on communities.
Speakers include: Tamika Felder, Cervivor and Karen Nakawala, Teal Sisters Foundation Zambia
In 2024 we look forward to continuing to provide advocates with tools to support our collective work to ensure access to PrEP in all its forms to all who can benefit from it.
PrEPWatch.org has grown significantly in the past year, reaching a growing number of implementers, policy makers and advocates with continually updated tools and information that are instrumental to delivering the growing range of HIV prevention options. Throughout 2023, visitors from every country in the world have used PrEPWatch.org, a one-stop online clearinghouse of data, guidelines, tracking tools and other resources to help the global community speed the delivery of every proven method of PrEP to everyone who needs it. Check out what’s new and updated on PrEPWatch.org!
PrEPWatch has added 35 new country pages where you can find the status of drug registration for PrEP products, data on PrEP initiations by product, country-level PEPFAR targets, and links to key policy documents and guidelines.
The Integrated Study Dashboard
Produced under the BioPIC project, the Integrated Study Dashboard tracks all currently known activities relating to implementation research, modelling, clinical research, and landscaping for new biomedical HIV PrEP options, including CAB for PrEP and the dapivirine vaginal ring (DVR), and has been recently expanded to include links to study results and study websites. The dashboard is updated in real time, and links to results will be added as they become available.
More Essential Resources on PrEPWatch.org
Tracking Country Planning for Product Introduction
The Country Planning for Product Introduction Matrix tracks key indicators for the introduction of injectable CAB and the DVR by country, including regulatory status, late-stage clinical trials and implementation research, procurement plans, and recent oral PrEP provision.
Training PrEP Champions
Among the most popular resources on PrEPWatch, the HIV Prevention Ambassador Training Package and Toolkit prepares potential and current PrEP users to be leaders – and “Ambassadors” – in the rollout of PrEP for HIV prevention in their communities. Developed as part of the MOSAIC project, it includes a training manual and resources for Ambassadors to use in peer outreach and community education.
Trends in PrEP Initiations
The Global PrEP Tracker provides quarterly updates on global trends in PrEP initiation by geography, delivery models, and more. The Global PrEP Tracker has become an indispensable resource for following the state of the field in delivering PrEP.
We hope these tools, created through strong partnerships and joint effort, support your work to accelerate the delivery of HIV prevention options. We are always interested in collaboration to ensure needed resources are developed and up to date. If you have information to share or resource needs, please let us know by reaching out to [email protected] and [email protected].
Avac Event
PrEPVacc: An in-depth look at the trial, and what’s next
During this webinar, the PrEPVacc team and AVAC reviewed the status of the PrEPVacc trial. PrEPVacc, a 3-in-1 trial testing two different vaccine candidates (plus placebo arm) and two daily oral PrEP regimens, recently discontinued vaccinations in the trial due to an independent data review board’s conclusion that the vaccines were having no effect in preventing HIV infection. On this call, we will review key aspects of PrEPVacc, including its innovative study design, implementation, integrated social science, and data analysis plans. Speakers engaged in conversation about what we’ve learned from PrEPVacc, what we can still learn, and what this may mean for the HIV prevention field.
PrEPVacc Trial Design: Sheena McCormack, PrEPVacc Project Lead, MRC Clinical Trials Unit, University College London, UK
Trial Implementation and Baseline Data: Eugene Ruzagira, PrEPVacc Trial Director, MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit
Integrated Social Science: Rachel Kawuma, PrEPVacc Social Scientist, MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit
Analysis Plan: Sheila Kansiime, PrEPVacc Statistician, MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit
As we look ahead to 2024 and the vital work AVAC and partners will be carrying forward, the conversations from 2023 offer guidance and insights. Px Pulse, AVAC’s podcast on critical issues facing HIV prevention research, hosted several not-be-missed conversations in 2023 that will reverberate into the year ahead.
From a stalled PEPFAR reauthorization to LGBTQIA+ voices fighting persecution in Uganda; from efforts to bring equity to a new global architecture for pandemic readiness to advances in HIV vaccine science and advocacy to include pregnant people in research—we hope that all of these conversations can inform our advocacy in 2024. Click on the episode for both recordings and resources.
Considered one of the greatest US foreign policy and global development achievements of the century, the program has saved upwards of 25 million lives since it launched in 2003. But PEPFAR is marking its 20th anniversary while fighting for its future. LISTEN HERE.
In March 2023, the Ugandan Parliament moved forward broad-reaching legislation to further criminalize LGBTQIA+ people. This podcast features Ugandan advocates and AVAC partners discussing the specifics of how these attacks have gained momentum and their ties to US-based religious extremists. The advocates discuss what needs to happen next. LISTEN HERE.
Health leaders around the world are in the midst of creating a new architecture to deal with pandemics. Chris Collins, the CEO and President at Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, talks about what’s at stake, which policymakers get it already, why this year matters so much, and what advocates can do about it. LISTEN HERE.
Over the coming months, global leaders will make key decisions about several initiatives to prepare for the next pandemic. This podcast explores what they commit to, how much they will spend and how well these plans safeguard equity. LISTEN HERE.
AVAC’s Manju Chatani-Gada takes us through conversations with a trial participant who became pregnant, researchers, policymakers and donors to understand why this population gets excluded, the impact it has and what to do about it. LISTEN HERE.
Evolving Strategies for an HIV Vaccine: One researcher explains where the field is going and why? Dr. Katy Stephenson explores the implications of recent trial results, the big questions driving next generation vaccine development, and new strategies underway in early phase research. LISTEN HERE.
Happy listening—and let us know what topics you want to hear more about in 2024!
Press Release
The Search for an HIV Vaccine Must Continue
Field Will Learn for Halted PrEPVacc Arm
New York, 6 December 2023 – Today the PrEPVacc trial team announced at a special session at the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) in Harare, Zimbabwe, that they were stopping vaccinations in the study following a review by an independent data safety committee that determined there was little chance the vaccines being tested could stop HIV acquisition. The oral PrEP arms of the study will continue.
PrEPVacc was testing two different vaccine strategies against a placebo: one regimen combining a DNA vaccine with a protein-based vaccine (AIDSVAX), and another regimen combining DNA, MVA and a protein-based vaccine (CN54gp140).
“We always hope for a positive outcome in HIV prevention trials, and this news is disappointing,” said Mitchell Warren, AVAC executive director. “We look forward to seeing the full PrEPVacc data in 2024 and hope it will add to the body of evidence that is helping scientists understand how to develop better vaccine candidates that will one day protect against HIV.”
“The PrEPVacc outcome underscores yet again that the science of HIV vaccine development is extremely challenging,” he added. “Now is not the time to step back from vaccine research. There are several promising strategies in early-stage research that must continue, along with research for other HIV prevention options. We will not end HIV without ensuring that everyone who is vulnerable to HIV infection has a choice of effective and desirable prevention options.”
Importantly, PrEPVacc’s PrEP arms will continue. The study is testing two different formulations of daily oral PrEP, looking to see if a new formulation – F/TAF (also known as Descovy) – is at least as good in the trial population at protecting against HIV acquisition as F/TDF (also known as Truvada and the most widely used version of PrEP). The trial will provide the first data for F/TAF among cisgender women (who make up 87% of the just over 1,500 PrEPVacc trial participants). F/TAF is approved for use in the US and UK, but not for those individuals who have receptive vaginal sex, since previous trials regrettably did not enroll cisgender women.
The PrEPVacc study is scheduled to conclude in 2024 and data from all arms of the study are expected to be reported in the last half of 2024.
“The PrEP arms of PrEPVacc will provide important insights into the potential of expanding access of F/TAF for PrEP to women in East and Southern Africa who need additional options to protect themselves from HIV. Equitable access to new interventions should be a goal of every research program,” said Stacey Hannah, AVAC’s director of Research Engagement.
“PrEPVacc is a complex, innovative trial design, and, while the vaccine result today is disappointing, the trial team has worked from the outset to implement the Good Participatory Practice (GPP) Guidelines. The team’s hard work on the front-end to apply GPP to this trial is paying off especially now in the ability to deliver complex, disappointing results to trial participants, advocates, policymakers and other key supporters of PrEPVacc and of HIV prevention broadly.”
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About AVAC
AVAC is an international non-profit organization that provides an independent voice and leverages 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.
AVAC Commemorates World AIDS Day
This World AIDS Day we at AVAC are reflecting on remarkable gains and increasing threats to progress against AIDS. Our latest issue of PxWire, tracking trends in research, development and delivery of HIV prevention options, speaks to this important progress:
Five countries have reached the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets with more than 29 million people accessing treatment, and global incidence continuing to decline – in some places, among some populations.
However, as we look to 2024, all these gains could be imperiled by political and financial choices facing leaders today.
Will the US Congress recognize the unparalleled success of PEPFAR and safeguard its funding through a clean 5-year reauthorization?
Will health officials and policy makers embrace the Choice Manifesto, created by HIV advocates and adopted by UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, calling for the essential investments that will bring these diverse options to the communities that need them most?
The answers to these questions will require donors and political leaders to do the right thing, and it will depend on us, a global movement of advocates with a track record of world-changing achievements, to stay the course and build the road to reach everyone one of these goals. Below are a few key resources to support your work.
From the Lab to the Jab
A series of advocates guides on key issues to ensure equitable access to safe, effective, and affordable vaccines.
POZ Magazine’s interview with Mitchell Warren, with a comprehensive look at the status of the fight against HIV/AIDS and the scientific breakthroughs to date and still needed to end the epidemic.
A Call to Action: Scale Up HPV Vaccination in People Living with HIV
In a new call to action, Mitchell Warren and Heather White, executive director of TogetHER for Health, argue that the time is now to invest in efforts to ensure that people living with HIV can live their lives without the threat of cervical cancer.
At AVAC, we believe it’s up to all of us to make sure the world does not squander another decade in slow, fragmented rollout of life-saving innovation in HIV prevention or risk underfunding research and development. If we work together to build equity into the rollout of options that exist already and support the promise of expanding choices in the near future, the world will at long last bend the curve of HIV.
Call to Action for Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision
The Job Is Not Done Yet
In the pursuit of a future without HIV and AIDS, voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) remains an integral component of the arsenal in HIV prevention, offering a cost-effective and scientifically proven intervention that holds immense potential in curbing the acquisition of HIV.
Join AVAC and partners for the biennial International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (ICASA), in Harare, Zimbabwe December 4-9. More than 30 of our partners will convene at the meeting to champion community leadership and amplify their role in shaping local, national and global responses and delivering impactful advocacy. Community leadership on a range of issues are instrumental to:
Accelerate and expand access to proven prevention options that people want and need.
Dismantle the structural barriers to health faced by key populations.
Intensify demands for robust domestic and global funding for health.
Integrate HIV services with sexual and reproductive health.
And much more.
Scroll down for a roadmap to ICASA’s prevention program, and details on sessions and events that you won’t want to miss.
Biomedical Prevention Forum 9:00-15:00 GMT The Biomedical Prevention Forum will be held as a hybrid event bringing together advocates, civil society representatives, researchers, government officials and front-line providers to explore and discuss the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in biomedical HIV prevention, while emphasizing the importance of choice and its transformative impact on HIV prevention efforts. This is an open event. Register here.
Key Populations Preconference 9:00-15:00 GMT The Africa Key Populations Experts Group (AKPEG), African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA), the African Network of People Using Drugs (AfricanPUD) and African Queer Youth Initiative (AQYI) Advocates for Prevention of HIV and AIDS in Africa (APHA), Global Black Gay Men Connect (GBGMC) and partners will host a safe platform to deliberate on the state of the HIV epidemic among Key Populations and to determine the stumbling blocks for progress on the path that ends AIDS for Key Populations.
Shaping the future of choice in prevention: Gearing up for the rollout of the Dual Prevention Pill, the newest MPT in the toolbox 12:25-13:10 GMT The Dual Prevention Pill (DPP), a daily pill combining oral PrEP and combined hormonal oral contraception for dual pregnancy and HIV prevention, could be introduced in the next two years and would be the only other MPT available in addition to male and female condoms – and the first MPT containing PrEP. This session will discuss the latest learnings from the DPP Consortium, a coalition of organizations preparing for the introduction of the DPP in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Kenya.
Tuesday, December 5
Advancing Integrated Biomedical Prevention: Best Practices from Zimbabwe (Session 2) 8:45-09:30 GMT This satellite session will discuss best practices and lessons learned from the delivery of biomedical HIV prevention and Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision services as we work to further universal health coverage and robust health systems. Partners will launch a global call to action to unite, mobilize, and advocate for continued prioritized funding, sustained commitment, and strategic integration of VMMC into national and global prevention strategies.
Catalyzing a sustainable HIV prevention agenda: Approaches to expand local action on global commitments 10:45-11:30 GMT Leveraging new strategic plans for HIV prevention, including the PEPFAR’s 5-year Strategy and UNAIDS’ Prevention Road Map, this satellite session will discuss combination prevention in the context of a sustainable HIV response and highlight a variety of approaches and models that leverage country and stakeholder-led innovations to meet the challenge.
Policy, Politics and HIV Management 13:05-13:50 GMT In this oral abstract session, Princess Mharire from Pangaea Zimbabwe AIDS Trust (PZAT) will present, Beyond Metrics: How the Simple Participatory Assessment of Real Change (SPARC) Tool Provides a Holistic Approach to Advocacy Measurement, and Joseph Njowa of PZAT will share the COMPASS MERL model in a presentation, Innovative tools for planning, monitoring, and evaluation of advocacy campaigns.
Strengthen integration for better SRHR outcomes 10:45-11:30 GMT This concurrent session will feature Advocates for Prevention of HIV and AIDS in Africa’s (APHA) Yvette Raphael and will explore linkages between unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortion, and HIV.
HIV Prevention-Right Place, Right time 13:05-13:50 GMT This concurrent session will feature Maureen Luba of AVAC, Definate Nhamo of PZAT and Yvette Raphael of APHA.
AVAC and Partner Poster Presentations
Tuesday, December 5
Maximizing private pharmacies for PrEP delivery to increase uptake: Lessons learnt from the Community Retail Pharmacy Distribution Point, Ruth Akulu
Wednesday, December 6
Journalist Training: A Key Advocacy Strategy, Catherine Madebe
Perceptions on the new biomedical HIV prevention methods among adolescent girls and young women in tertiary institutions in Zimbabwe, Cleo Makura
Lessons from Crisis Response from TaNPUD in Enhancing Harm Reduction from 2015 to 2018, Marineus Mutongore
Implementing Community led Monitoring for improved quality of HIV services in Tanzania, Mathew Kawogo
Impact of social media exposure on HIV services uptake among Tanzanian Young people: Implications for enhancing the HIV response, Marineus Mutongore
Effective Strategies for Operating COWLHA support groups of Adolescents Living with HIV: Case of Mangochi and Chikwawa Districts of Malawi, Harry Madukani
Thursday, December 7
Understanding Choice of HIV Prevention Options among Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) in Zambia, Natasha Mwila
Leveraging HIV to Build a Global Health Research and Development (R&D) Equity Advocacy Agenda, John Meade
Championing advocacy for domestic resource mobilization for health research and development in Africa, Ethel Makila
Friday, December 8
Rural Youth: Underserved and Unsafe When Seeking Care, Liyema Somnono
Redefining Coalition Governance and Leadership in Support of Decolonizing Global Health: The Evolution of the COMPASS Coalition, Roberta Sutton
Collaborative Monitoring & Evaluation to Support Learning and Strengthen Advocacy Coalitions: The MERL Hub, Grace Tetteh
Realities faced by street children predisposing them to HIV and STIs in Dodoma and Dar es Salaam Cities in Tanzania, Simon Shilagwa
Spotlight on New PrEP Tools and Data: From R&D to access
Tuesday, November 28
Between the recent accelerated growth in global PrEP initiations, and the introduction of new PrEP products like cabotegravir and the dapivirine vaginal ring, the field of PrEP data has never been more exciting or more complex. Staying on top of the latest advances is key for advocates, researchers, funders, and others working in HIV prevention to do their job effectively—but how can you navigate the vast amount of PrEP data online? AVAC, the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), and Unitaid presented information on three important online PrEP resources and understand how they can support and enhance your work:
PrEPWatch.org: the one stop shop for PrEP resources to support introduction and scale-up, including the PrEPTracker, the only place to find information on global PrEP initiations online
Access to Medicines Tracker: the go-to place for quarterly-updated insights on regulatory filings, regulatory approvals, and product supplies of MPP-licensed generic medicines at the country level.
