The 5th HIV Research for Prevention (R4P) conferenceis being held in Lima, Peru from 6 to 10 October. Held every two years, HIVR4P is the only global conference to focused exclusively on biomedical HIV prevention, including AIDS vaccines, microbicides, PrEP, treatment as prevention and other approaches.
See below for conference highlights, recaps and announcements.
SRH + HIV integration advocacy, Pandemic Accord, GPP and more!
AVAC’s round-up of resources, updates and insights this week includes a new roadmap for sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and HIV integration, resources to support an equitable Pandemic Accord, innovations in Good Participatory Practices (GPP) and more!
The power of choice in contraception, sexual health and HIV prevention this World Contraception Day
Copper Rose Zambia, as a part of CASPR and AVAC launched a new resource addressing the critical need for integrated SRH and HIV services. This roadmap provides key steps for success, focusing on collaboration, strategic mapping and targeted advocacy.
MPTs are products designed to simultaneously address more than one sexual and reproductive health concern. This advocates’ guide shows the pipeline of products in development, discusses why MPTs are needed, investment, and what advocates can do to push for MPT development and introduction.
A group of organizations advocating for an integrated and holistic approach to preparedness that emphasizes equity, inclusion, and synergies of multiple global health programs in advancing preparedness, shares five priorities in Pandemic Accord negotiations.
AVAC’s Sam Rick moderated CISDI’s event alongside Nina Schwalbe, Lawrence Gostin, Eloise Todd and others, reminding the audience that for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR) to succeed, lessons from the HIV response must be integrated into the architecture being built for PPPR.
The 2024 Good Participatory Practice Online Course is now accepting applications for 30 spots! This course offering will run 14 October – 20 December 2024. The application deadline is 9 October.
Sexual and Reproductive Health Integration Advocacy Roadmap
This roadmap addresses the critical need for integrated sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and HIV services. This integration is essential for enhancing public health outcomes, socio-economic benefits, and individual health and rights. The Roadmap aims to revitalize and sustain advocacy efforts for SRH and HIV integration, empower communities to hold stakeholders accountable for implementation, increase political and program support to enable the shift from policy to practice, and foster dynamic partnerships across research, advocacy, implementation, and policy sectors.
It was developed by Copper Rose Zambia (CRZ) as part of the Coalition to Accelerate and Support Prevention Research (CASPR). It draws on extensive input, including desk reviews, interviews, focus group discussions, and a specialized workshop held at the 2023 International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA).
Avac Event
The Road Ahead – SRH Integration Advocacy
Join Copper Rose Zambia, as a part of CASPR, for a webinar, The Road Ahead – SRH Integration Advocacy. The webinar will launch the SRH Integration Advocacy Roadmap, and feature healthcare providers, advocates, and more to discuss the future of sexual and reproductive health integration.
Avac Event
Integrating HIV and PrEP Services in US Correctional Facilities
This webinar explored the integration of HIV prevention and PrEP services in diverse US correctional settings and during the critical period following release. It also highlighted innovative HIV status-neutral approaches, fostering holistic and comprehensive HIV care, treatment, and prevention services in these settings.
Presenters:
Jeannette Webb, BS, University of Chicago
Russell Brewer, DrPH, University of Chicago
Chad Zawitz, MD, Cook County Health, Chicago
Gjvar Payne, Capitol Area Reentry Program, Baton Rouge
Louise Bienvenu, JD, Frontline Legal Services, New Orleans
Anna Miti Joins The Choice Agenda (TCA) as Co-Moderator
AVAC and The Choice Agenda (TCA) are delighted to welcome Anna Miti as the TCA’s new co-moderator. Based in Harare, Zimbabwe, Anna is a seasoned journalist, advocate for gender equality, an AVAC Cure Fellow, former AVAC Advocacy Fellow and co-convener of the Zimbabwe Media Science Cafe, who brings her passion for amplifying community voices to this role.
Launched by AVAC with Jim Pickett in April 2022, TCA is a global forum for advocacy on the latest in HIV prevention. With monthly webinars hosting informed discussions and a moderated listserv of nearly 3,000 subscribers from 40+ countries, TCA offers the HIV prevention community a platform to come together, learn from one another and chart the way forward. Anna will work alongside Jim and the AVAC team to foster inclusive advocacy around efforts to expand equitable access to HIV prevention tools around the world.
“As a long-time member of the TCA, I have valued it as a place for robust discussions and a vital platform to access new, timely and relevant information. I am excited to now contribute to this platform as co-moderator. Together with other advocates, I aim to strengthen the TCA’s impact and contribute even more to HIV and science advocacy.” – Anna Miti, TCA co-moderator
“On behalf of the TCA community, I am thrilled to welcome Anna into the brand-new role of co-moderator. Her dedication to HIV prevention research advocacy, her deep well of experience, and her exceptional communication skills will help us improve and expand our work to support HIV prevention research literacy and advocacy. The sun never sets on TCA, and I couldn’t be happier to have such a savvy, partner to help us take TCA to the next level.” – Jim Pickett, AVAC senior consultant and TCA moderator.
PxPulse’s new episode, Lenacapavir: The case for investing in delivering HIV prevention, goes deep on LEN. Recorded just days before Gilead’s announcement that PURPOSE 2, its second major trial of LEN as injectable PrEP, also found very high efficacy, Dr. Flavia Kiweewa, a principal investigator of PURPOSE 1, the first trial to announce efficacy, lays out the research findings and what they mean. And Chilufya Kasanda Hampongo of Zambia’s Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign and Mitchell Warren of AVAC talk about how to change a long history of squandered opportunities to get rollout right.
The PURPOSE 1 trial announced findings in June that a twice-yearly injection of LEN was 100% effective among cisgender women, with zero new cases of HIV. And the PURPOSE 2 trial among cisgender men, and trans and non-binary people, was shown to reduce the risk of HIV by 96%.
LEN now enters a select category, one of five ARV-based options for PrEP that all protect against HIV if you take them. But many of the people applauding the results from PURPOSE 1 and 2 will tell you that breakthrough science like this, as hard as it is, is still the easy part. Breaking the back of the HIV epidemic demands overcoming an altogether different challenge — coordinating and accelerating every step in rolling out new products so that everyone who needs HIV prevention can get it.
Listen to this podcast to learn what must be done to finally deliver on the promise of highly effective HIV prevention, from pills to rings to injectable PrEP and beyond.
Innovations in GPP
This webinar on September 11 featured speakers from around the world with experience implementing GPP at research sites, within networks, and at the sponsorship level.
They illustrated how GPP can expand beyond the more familiar (but always reliable) CABs and town hall meetings to newer ideas like partnership-based approaches, the creation of a community scorecard, and more.
Moderator and Presenter:
Ntando Yola, Desmond Tutu Health Foundation
Presenters:
Sarah Read, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) continue to rise globally with too little public health intervention and investment. While many STIs are curable, they often go undiagnosed and untreated because they tend to cause few or no initial symptoms. Available diagnostics are often too costly to use for routine screening and testing in many low to middle-income countries (LMICs), and few vaccines exist to address the most common STIs.
Discover STIWatch.org!
STIWatch.org is an updated platform designed to enhance understanding and advocacy for STI vaccine and diagnostics research, development, and rollout. It offers comprehensive information on common STIs, a clinical trials dashboard, advocacy priorities, and a range of resources and tools to support STI prevention and treatment efforts.
Scroll down for more STI prevention resources advocates need to navigate these two conferences.
Resources
Follow the STI Prevention Conference events in real time in Atlanta on Twitter at #STIConf24 and on AVAC’s feed at @HIVpxresearch
STIWatch.org is an initiative of AVAC with funding and support from the World Health Organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Do Vaginas Demand Perfection? Implications for Event-Driven PrEP
Dr. Jenell Stewart (University of Minnesota, Hennepin Healthcare) joined The Choice Agenda to discuss and analyze recent research on HIV PrEP and implications for event driven PrEP across sex and gender.
