Contraception and HIV Prevention: A clear picture of women’s needs

Women face many choices about HIV prevention and contraception. Funders and governments need to move to integrated programs that provide a variety of services in one place.

Peers are Primary: Towards a systematic approach to lay cadres

Across Treatment U=U and prevention programs, peer navigators, mentor mothers and lay counselors are recognized as essential to good services. Yet many countries don’t have clear schemas for quantifying the number of individuals needed, budgeting for their remuneration and defining the roles and responsibilities that lead to impact. Activists are working to ensure clarity by demanding from governments, funders and implementers.

Towards a Demand Creation Cascade

Many countries report low initiation and continuation of PrEP. This doesn’t mean people don’t want the product. They might not want the program that’s offering it; or they might not be being reached. A “demand-creation cascade” such as the one proposed here for PrEP is one way to evaluate the program and the product. It would measure how many people received the full suite of demand-side activities the program hopes to deliver at a given stage. The precise set of steps would depend on the service-delivery design and strategy in question.

Phases of Informed-Choice PrEP Counseling

This flow chart emerged from socio-behavioral research, including surveys and in-depth interviews with Kenyan and South African women. The research team set out with the goal of adapting the informed-choice approach used in family planning programs for use in PrEP, a prime example of fields learning from each other. The result is very clinic-centered; AVAC has added the column at the far right to reflect additional elements. However, it is a step towards much-needed exploration of how to make informed choice a reality in HIV prevention today.

Putting Women at the Center: Informed choice in 2018 and beyond

We need to give women the choice to use DTG or not and to use contraception if indicated and desired. We need to support choices across options, with risk reduction—not use of a specific product—as the primary outcome. We need to give women the choice to use DMPA-IM or –SC or not, and to use HIV prevention as desired.

AVAC Report 2018: No Prevention, No End!

AVAC’s 2018 annual state of the field report, No Prevention, No End! looks at today’s prevention crisis and offers context, analysis and strategy to turn that crisis around.

Oral PrEP Enrollment Snapshot

For trends in oral PrEP uptake, check out the Oral PrEP Enrollment Snapshot. This PowerPoint deck illustrates major findings from the tracker with heat maps showing where people are initiating PrEP, updates against targets and more. A PDF version is also available.

HIV Vaccine Science, Research, Updates and Advocacy

With HIV Vaccine Awareness Day (HVAD) in the spotlight earlier this month, AVAC’s May episode of PxPulse features four experts steeped in HIV vaccine research. Together they help set expectations for where the field is now and where it is going.

The Stories of HIV Vaccines in 2018—From science to stakeholder engagement

This four-pager explores stories about stakeholder engagement in the current suite of efficacy trials as well as stories around global support for vaccine research in the age of an expanded HIV prevention landscape.

Px Wire April-June 2018, Vol. 11, No. 2

In the new issue of Px Wire, AVAC gives our take on this year’s PEPFAR process for establishing the Country Operational Plans (COPs). These plans define what work will be done with PEPFAR money at the country level and how that work will be evaluated in each of the 63 countries that receive PEPFAR money.