Avac Event

South African AIDS Conference (SAAIDS)

The 12th SAAIDS Conference 2025, under the theme: Unite for Change – Empower Communities and Redefine Priorities for HIV/AIDS will be held in Johannesburg 8-11 September.

Resources

If you’re attending, don’t miss a keynote plenary where AVAC’s Mitchell Warren will share perspectives on the future of HIV prevention, and an important satellite on Wednesday, Bridging the Gap and Identifying Opportunities: Innovative Strategies to Accelerate HIV Prevention, Treatment, and Care for Key and Vulnerable Populations in South Africa.  

Global Advocates Welcome the Launch of Merck’s EXPrESSIVE Program

Known as the EXPrESSIVE program, the drug maker Merck has two trials testing a monthly pill for PrEP. Merck is committed to stakeholder engagement, putting global advocates at the forefront of planning for the program. Numerous organizations and advocates commend Merck’s dedication to hearing from the community and shared this statement.

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Designing for the Future

Community perspectives for HIV prevention trials

Presented by AVAC’s Regional Program Manager for Research Engagement Grace Kumwenda at IAS 2025, this presentation summarizes community demands that future HIV prevention trials be ethical, acceptable, inclusive, feasible, and efficient.

The Scientific Journey of Lenacapavir — and the Urgency to Defend HIV Prevention Science 

On June 11, AVAC hosted a conversation, The Scientific Journey of Lenacapavir: From basic science to clinical development to impact, to explore how US support from NIH for basic science and South Africa’s clinical research infrastructure made possible the development of lenacapavir for PrEP (LEN), a discovery in HIV prevention that went on to be named Science magazine’s 2024 Breakthrough of the Year.

As the field anticipates initial regulatory approval from the US FDA by June 19 and a WHO recommendation in July, Linda-Gail Bekker of the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, Wes Sundquist of the University of Utah and Mitchell Warren of AVAC underscored how this moment of promise is threatened by sweeping attacks on science, research and the very systems that made the development of LEN possible.

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Avac Event

100 Days In: How HIV Advocates are Meeting the Moment

In its first 100 days, the Trump administration proposed deep cuts to public health and HIV funding, attacked evidence-based healthcare, defunded scientific research, rolled back protections for LGBTQ+ people, and emphasized punitive criminal legal approaches. These moves pose serious threats to the future of HIV-related services, care, prevention, and the broader struggle for health equity and racial justice in our multiracial democracy.

Join CHLP for this moderated panel discussion focused on what the first 100 days of the Trump administration have meant for our communities, particularly people living with HIV, Black and brown people, LGBTQ+ people, and those impacted by criminalization, and how we are collectively shifting strategy to meet the current political moment.

Panelists

  • Michael Elizabeth, Equality Federation
  • Venita Ray, Black South Rising
  • John Meade, PrEP in Black America, AVAC
  • Chauncey McGlathery, American Academy of HIV Medicine
  • Jada Hicks & Sean McCormick, CHLP

Why HIV Prevention Must Not Be Left Behind

In this presentation at the INTEREST 2025 conference, Rhoda Msiska of Copper Rose Zambia emphasizes the urgency of protecting the progress made in scaling up PrEP and the need to act now to expand access to new HIV prevention tools like injectable lenacapavir (LEN) and the Dual Prevention Pill (DPP).

Novel Study Designs for New HIV Prevention Products

A presentation by Deborah Donnell, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center University of Washington, discussing trial design when PrEP is available. How can the field justify randomization to an experimental drug when we have something known to work? If we give study participants PrEP, how can we know a new experimental drug is working?

Avac Event

Science in the Crosshairs: Research Advocacy in a Time of Crisis

AVAC and partners had a critical conversation on the escalating threats to health research and equity-centered science. This webinar unpacked the implications of the proposed FY2026 US federal budget—which includes sweeping cuts to NIH, CDC, USAID, and the elimination of vital global and minority health research programs. Together, we explored what these attacks mean for communities, researchers, and implementers and identified actionable advocacy strategies to fight back.

Recording / Slides / Resources

Better Engagement, Better Evidence

Working in partnership with patients, the public, and communities in clinical trials with involvement in good participatory practice

Writing in the Lancet Global Health, AVAC staffers Stacey Hannah, Jessica Salzwedel, and several co-authors, write about the importance of community stakeholder engagement clearly seen after World Health Organization adoption of new rules requiring clinical trials to improve this kind of coordination.

Avac Event

WHO-Lancet Global Health Series: Shaping the Future of Clinical Trials

WHO and partners will convene to launch the Lancet Global health series: Shaping the Future of Clinical Trials. Details and registration link below.