New Podcast Episode: Decolonizing Global Health

Dear Advocate,  

Investing in the long-term success of African leadership is essential to breaking cycles that perpetuate inequity and that stall progress in the HIV response. In our newest episode of PxPulse, we explore why and how the decisions that shape global health must be made by those facing the greatest risks. As the world evaluates the pandemic response and debates on decolonizing global health gain momentum, equity in global health has never been more urgent.   

For more than seven years, COMPASS Africa, a civil society coalition of 29 organizations working in three countries as well as regionally and globally, has used data-driven advocacy to improve the HIV response with high-impact campaigns. In January, the coalition underwent a major transition, with Pangaea Zimbabwe assuming the role of secretariat (previously held by AVAC), marking a historic milestone in the development of innovative models for power-sharing in coalition and an important step toward decolonizing global health. These changes in COMPASS come as other efforts, such as negotiations on the Pandemic Accord, are struggling to advance, uphold or safeguard equity. 

Now is the time to test new models. In Decolonizing Global Health: Dr. Madhukar Pai and COMPASS Africa Tell Us Why and How, we explore what it takes to invest in equity and power sharing.

New Episode of PxPulse!

This episode of PxPulse features global health leader, Dr. Madhukar Pai, along with two leaders of COMPASS AfricaFrancis Luwole and Barbra Ncube, talking about new models of power-sharing.

Listen now!

Tune in to Hear

Join the Conversation

To continue the conversation, register for the March 26 Choice Agenda webinar, Decolonizing Global Public Health: Exploring the how, from now, til as long as it takes.  

Press Release

Funding for HIV Survives Extreme Cuts Proposed By House Republicans

Final FY24 Bill Includes Calls for HHS/CDC to Increase PrEP Access

21 March 2024 – PrEP4All, AVAC, HIVMA, and the PrEP in Black America coalition celebrate Congress’ decision to both fund domestic HIV programs at the same level as last year and to lift up calls for a National PrEP Program. The final 2024 Health and Human Services bill rejects extreme cuts to HIV funding proposed by House Republicans in July of last year. The organizations have led the charge on the #SaveHIVFunding campaign following efforts to eliminate $767M in critical funds to end HIV as an epidemic. We additionally thank House and Senate LHHS Appropriations Subcommittee leaders Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Representatives Robert Aderholt (R-AL) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) for working to ensure an effective and ultimately bipartisan outcome.

“Our movement for a National PrEP Program and to end HIV as an epidemic remains strong,” says PrEP4All Executive Director Jeremiah Johnson. “The final bill ultimately shows strong bipartisan support for HIV funding, including PrEP, and rejects the flawed effort by some House Republicans to zero out the Ending the HIV Epidemic Program. We created the #SaveHIVFunding campaign in collaboration with AVAC, HIVMA, and PrEP in Black America knowing that everyone in Congress needed to hear from community advocates in order to be successful in fighting these unnecessary deep cuts. Without this work and the concerted and brilliant efforts of so many HIV organizations within the Federal AIDS Policy Partnership, this win would not have been possible.”

The outcome means that a previous $25M increase going toward CDC’s efforts to improve equitable PrEP access will be preserved, which is critical as advocates continue to engage with CDC on ways to establish a foundation for a National PrEP Program using existing funds. Congress also included final report language directing CDC to increase access to PrEP and cited previous calls from the Senate to establish the “building blocks of a national program to increase awareness of PrEP, increase access to PrEP medication, [and] laboratory services…”

“This outcome is a win for Black communities across the nation who are disproportionately impacted by HIV. Making life-saving treatment and prevention a reality for Black Americans is a possibility because of our relentless advocacy work to #SaveHIVFunding,” says Raniyah Copeland, Founding member of the PrEP in Black America Coalition and Founder of Equity Impact Solutions. 

“This has been a long process, and we are grateful to have an outcome that leaves us on firm footing to realize the vision of a National PrEP Program,” says Andrea Weddle of HIVMA. “However, the fight for FY25 is already upon us following this prolonged budget process; meaning that advocates will have to remain vigilant, fight to protect our existing funding, and continue to ensure a clear, immediate, and fully funded pathway toward equitable PrEP access.”

“This is very encouraging news for PrEP advocates, especially following the President’s reintroduction of his proposal for a National PrEP Program last week.” Explains John Meade, Senior Program Manager for Policy at AVAC . “Combined with HIV/AIDS housing advocates’ victory in achieving an FY24 funding increase, I am so proud of our movement and our ability to rally in the face of these threats.”

A National PrEP Program would be a cost effective means to achieve our national goal of Ending the HIV Epidemic by 2030. Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is a 99% effective use of medication to prevent HIV. Unfortunately 64% of people who could benefit from PrEP do not have access to it. A new study shows that states with the highest PrEP coverage showed an annual percentage decrease in HIV diagnoses of 8% from 2012 – 2021. In contrast, states with low PrEP coverage increased 2% annually. A National PrEP Program will increase access among people who could benefit and address major disparities in access related to race, gender and geographic location.  “In the current political environment, this Congressional action is especially noteworthy. But we must never confuse this progress with success; our fights for funding, equity and impact in treating and preventing this epidemic must continue, and funding and implementing a national PrEP program at scale and with urgency remains a huge priority,” said Mitchell Warren, Executive Director of AVAC.

Read the full press release here.

Developments in the HIV Biomedical Prevention Pipeline & PrEP Implementation Issues

An Update for Community Educators and Advocates

The European AIDS Treatment Group published a report covering two online discussions on the HIV biomedical prevention research & PrEP implementation issues for community educators and advocates. The report covers developments from the PREVENIR Cohort study, on long-Acting intramuscular PrEP, DoxyPEP, vaccine, as well as STI-PEP research. It also reviews challenges in the uptake of PrEP among women and in particular migrant women from sub-Saharan Africa and trans people.

Download the report. For more information and to see the recordings of the online discussions, click here.

Decolonizing Global Health: Dr. Madhukar Pai and COMPASS Africa Tell Us Why and How

Produced and hosted by Jeanne Baron.

Investing in the long-term success of African leadership is essential to breaking cycles that perpetuate inequity and that stall progress in the HIV response. In January, The Coalition to build Momentum, Power, Activism, Strategy and Solidarity (COMPASS Africa) announced a major transition, with Pangaea Zimbabwe assuming the role of secretariat and the launch of a decentralized approach to governance across the coalition. These changes come as other efforts, such as negotiations on the Pandemic Accord, are struggling to advance, uphold or safeguard equity.

In this episode of PxPulse, we talk about why and how the decisions that shape global health must be made by those facing the greatest risks. As the world evaluates the pandemic response and debates on decolonizing global health gain momentum, equity in global health has never been more urgent. 

This conversation features global health leader and critic, Dr. Madhukar Pai. And two members of the transnational coalition COMPASS Africa, Francis Luwole and Barbra Ncube, offer an up-close look at the coalition’s pioneering new model for power-sharing.

Tune in to Hear

Links

Advocacy Resources

Celebrating Rep. Barbara Lee and the Black Women Who Helped Shape the AIDS Movement

Following Black History Month and during Women’s History Month, it is important to honor Black women who have championed efforts in ending the epidemic and have led the ongoing fight in ensuring healthcare equity and justice for all. Someone who has worn multiple hats both as an advocate and as a US policymaker is no other than Representative Barbara Lee.  

Throughout Rep. Lee’s close to three decades-long tenure as a member of the US House of Representatives, She has single-handedly created material change for people living with HIV and those at risk of infection, marginalization and stigmatization, both in the US and around the world. As AVAC’s executive director Mitchell Warren says, “when the definitive history of this pandemic is finally written, there is no greater shero in our collective story than Barbara Lee. The AIDS response wouldn’t be where it is today without her.” 

From co-authoring the Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief Act of 2000 and establishing the framework for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, to her instrumental work in drafting and passage of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), to introducing legislation that would eventually lift the decades-old discriminatory HIV travel ban to the US, to her relentless efforts advocating to reform HIV/AIDS criminalization laws in the US, most recently with the Repeal Existing Policies that Encourage and Allow Legal (REPEAL) HIV Discrimination Act, Rep. Lee has walked the walk. She put grassroots-led efforts at the center of US and global policy in relation to those directly impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. 

Thank you, Rep. Barbara Lee, for the legacy you have built in forging an AIDS-free generation and for centering impacted communities throughout your work. We look forward to your efforts as co-chair and co-founder of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus and a member of the full appropriations committee in continuing to support HIV/AIDS prevention, education, research and access to treatment while combatting stigma.   

In addition to celebrating the tireless advocacy of Rep. Barbara Lee during Women’s History Month, it’s important to name the Black women who have changed the course of the AIDS epidemic including, but of course not limited to Raniyah CopelandDázon Dixon DialloLeisha McKinley-BeachYvette Raphael, and those we honor in our everyday actions, Hydeia BroadbentKatrina HaslipDawn Smith, and the recently passed, Joan Gibbs

HIV Cure Updates and Opportunities

Last week’s Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Denver, Colorado, was full of new research, provocative discussion and debate on a wide range of issues from longer-acting injectable PrEP; the dapvirine vaginal ring (DVR) in pregnancy; doxycycline as post-exposure prophylaxis (DoxyPEP) to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs); and so much more. Check out our daily summaries of highlights from CROI and recordings and resources from the daily Community Breakfast Club sessions

It was also the setting for important updates on the HIV reservoir lending to new insights into potential HIV cure strategies. Progress in HIV cure research, as part of a pipeline of biomedical tools to help end the epidemic, must be supported and guided by an advocacy agenda that puts communities first. Read on for cure highlights from CROI, new opportunities for cure advocates, and an upcoming webinar on pediatric cure research with Deborah Persaud and Gabriela Cromhout.

Cure Highlights from CROI – Q&A with AVAC’s Jessica Salzwedel

AVAC’s Jessica Salzwedel who leads our advocacy for HIV cure research and serves as the community engagement coordinator for Research Enterprise to Advance a Cure for HIV (REACH), Immunotherapy for Cure (I4C), and Pediatric Adolescent Virus Elimination (PAVE) shares her highlights from the research presented at CROI and insights into what it means for advocacy in this Q&A.

Read the Q&A

“Four preclinical and clinical results stood out because they advanced how researchers might tailor cure strategies to optimize the impact for people with HIV. We heard more about the potential role of sex hormones in directing the immune system in a study looking at fetus acquisition of HIV. Another study showed that women may be better candidates for the so-called “block and lock” strategy. We also heard results from the IMPAACT P1115 trial, which showed that early HIV treatment can lead to control of the virus in children. And a nonhuman primate study of adeno-associated virus (AAV), which delivered broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) may offer a pathway to a scalable, durable control option for pediatric cure. In basic science new data suggests that autologous neutralizing antibodies in some people delay rebound. And finally, we heard about rare T-cells that seem to resist killing, which could be important in developing strategies that could lead to durable control and eradication of HIV. ” Read the Q&A to see what it all means.  

Join Us for the 2024 Cure Academy

The Advocacy-for-Cure Academy, organized in partnership with the International AIDS Society, awards fellowships to advocates or peer educators to take part in workshops on HIV cure advocacy with international experts. The academy develops fellows’ cure research literacy and reinforces their advocacy and engagement skills in line with recommendations from Research priorities for an HIV cure: International AIDS Society Global Scientific Strategy 2021Applications are now open. Deadline Monday, 25 March 2024. The next Cure Academy runs June 8 – 10, 2024 in eastern Africa. 

And check out what five alumni from the program are doing with their fellowships intended to create solutions that advance HIV cure research in their local context. 

Webinar

Updates on Pediatric HIV Cure Research From CROI

Thursday, March 2, 10:00-11:30 am EST

Researchers Deborah Persaud and Gabriele Cromhout join AVAC’s Jessica Salzwedel to discuss the latest from CROI on pediatric cure.

REGISTER NOW

Resources

Avac Event

Watching the Watcher: Intersections of surveillance and criminalization in HIV and reproductive health care

The timing above is ET. Please click here to determine the time in your region.

Co-sponsored by the Positive Women’s Network-USA and The Choice Agenda, this webinar featured conversations with leaders in digital technology, HIV advocacy, and abortion criminalization to examine the existential threat of our ongoing blurred boundaries between public health and policing. We dove deeply into the ways that surveillance and criminalization of public health in two specific areas – HIV and reproductive health care – exacerbate structural racism, misogyny, transmisia, ableism and other forms of discrimination. We discussed how intrusive data collection without consent violates privacy rights and can discourage people from seeking the health care that they need. We also explored shared demands to protect health data privacy, bodily autonomy and human rights.

Speakers:
• Alex McClelland, Carleton University, Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization
• Allan Maleche, Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network on HIV and AIDS (KELIN)
• Arneta Rogers, Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice (CRRJ) at UC Berkeley School of Law

Moderator:
Naina Khanna, Positive Women’s Network-USA

Recording / Slides / Resources

Avac Event

The More We Know: Evolving our understanding of PrEP for cisgender women

Science and real-world experience continue to demand a re-assessment of our collective understanding of the safety and effectiveness of PrEP options for women, including oral, vaginal ring, and injectable options. For instance, a new paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo (HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis with Emtricitabine and Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate Among Cisgender Women) challenges the notion, baked into policies, programs and “conventional wisdom”, that cisgender women need to be “super-adherers” to achieve protection utilizing oral PrEP. In this webinar, we discussed this important paper and more.

Speakers:
• Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
• Joyce Ng’ang’a, WACI Health

Moderator:
Raniyah Copeland, Equity & Impact Solutions

Materials:
Recording / Ukrainian AudioSlides / Resources / Audio Transcript (English/Ukrainian)

CROI Roundup – Highlights from Monday

The highs and lows of great science but profound inequities were front and center on the first official day of CROI 2024.

Avac Event

STI Awareness Week Webinar Series (April 16 and 18)

Syphilis in the US: The current state of the epidemic and how it’s being addressed  

Tuesday, April 16, 1:00PM ET

This webinar examined the current state of the syphilis epidemic in the US and how the National Syphilis and Congenital Syphilis Syndemic Federal Task Force is addressing the response.  

Speakers included: Kate Miele and LCDR Neelam Gazarian 

This webinar was co-hosted with ASHA (American Sexual Health Association).

Recording / Slides

DoxyPEP: Prevention, effectiveness, and AMR

Thursday, April 18, 3:00PM ET

This webinar focused on sharing the latest scientific insights on DoxyPEP, its effectiveness in preventing STIs, and considerations around AMR.  

Speakers included: Fabian Kong, Annie Luetkemeyer, and Connie Celum 

Recording / Fabian Kong Slides / Connie Celum Slides

Sexually Transmitted Infections: What You Should Know About STIs and Testing

Friday, April 26, 10:00AM ET

AVAC and ASHA hosted a webinar to discuss STIs and testing with Chase Cannon, MD, MPH and Stacey Grinder, PhD, MPH.

Recording