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.
Designing for the Future
Community perspectives for HIV prevention trials
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.
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.
We’re Going Back to Court
New developments in our legal battle against the United States government
Three weeks ago, AVAC, as well as the Global Health Council and partners, sued the U.S. State Department and government officials including the President, to end the freeze on foreign assistance funding that is harming global health and development programs, including lifesaving HIV prevention efforts.
On February 13, a US federal district court immediately granted a temporary restraining order and directed the government to lift the freeze and restore funding while our lawsuit progresses. Since then, the administration has repeatedly refused to restart funding, and the court has made clear more than once that the continued freeze is unlawful.
“The government comes to this Court with an emergency of its own making,” our lawyers wrote in a filing.
The lengths that the government is willing to go to flout a court order, all for the goal of ending life-saving humanitarian assistance, is staggering,” they said.
Now we have a court date: this Thursday, March 6 at 2pm Eastern Standard Time, we will be in Washington, DC, to make the case for human rights, health and dignity – and the government paying its bills.
This fight is far from over, and your support has been instrumental in reaching this point, and together, we can continue to champion the rights and health of communities worldwide.
How you can stay connected:
- Follow: For updates on our case and one filed by Global Health Council, visit AVAC vs. Department of State. For the latest on the policy environment in the US, subscribe to our weekly Global Health Watch.
- Donate: Your financial contributions are vital to fund our legal actions and advocacy efforts! Give here.
- Advocate: For the latest breaking news on US government developments, Join Community Health & HIV Advocates Navigating Global Emergencies (CHANGE) for briefings and advocacy strategizing. You can keep a close eye on implications at PEPFARWatch and the PEPFAR Impact Tracker.
- Share: Help us spread the word! Share Global Health Watch and other AVAC updates with your networks.
These are immensely challenging times for all of u, and it is easy to be paralyzed, overwhelmed and depressed. But we’ve all come too far for that to be the new normal. Lives, economies and democracies depend on our collective ability to stand up and fight back.
Avac Event
CROI 2025 Community Breakfast Meetings
The Community Breakfast Clubs are virtual webinars coordinated by the CROI Community Liaisons, the European AIDS Treatment Group, AVAC, and their global collaborators. They feature researchers and advocates discussing some of the most consequential science being presented at CROI.
Session Recordings
Breaking New Ground: The latest advances in HIV cure
March 10, 2025
AVAC, the CROI Community Liaison Subcommittee and European AIDS Treatment Group hosted the first virtual Community Breakfast Meeting (CBMs) for the 2025 CROI meeting. Speaker details and recording below:
Moderator: Michael Louell, University of Washington-Seattle, Fred Hutch Center for AIDS research
Speakers
- Dr. Katie Bar, University of Pennsylvania, CROI Scientific Program Committee
- Dr. Marina Caskey, Rockerfeller University
- Dr. Steven Deeks, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
- Ms. Doreen Mora Moracha, HIV Cure Advocate- Kenya, CROI Community Educator Scholar
The End of AIDS — Near and Far? (40 Years of HIV)
March 11, 2025
AVAC, the CROI Community Liaison Subcommittee and European AIDS Treatment Group hosted the second virtual Community Breakfast Clubs (CBCs) for the 2025 CROI meeting. Speaker details and recording below:
Moderator: Grace Kumwenda, AVAC
Speakers:
- Dr. Chris Beyrer, Duke Global Health Institute
- Chilufya Kasanda, Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign – Zambia, CROI Community Educator Scholar
- Dr. Mitch Matoga, UNC, Malawi
Still Here! Living with HIV Long-Term
March 12, 2025
AVAC, the CROI Community Liaison Subcommittee and European AIDS Treatment Group hosted the third and final virtual Community Breakfast Clubs (CBCs) for the 2025 CROI meeting. Speaker details and recording below:
Moderator: Sean Hosein, European AIDS Treatment Group – Canada
Speakers:
- Kennedy Mupeli, Center for Youth of Hope – Botswana, CROI Community Educator Scholar
- Dr. Peter Hunt, University of California San Francisco, CROI Scientific Program Committee
- Dr. Laura Waters, The Mortimer Market Centre – London