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 Copeland, Dázon Dixon Diallo, Leisha McKinley-Beach, Yvette Raphael, and those we honor in our everyday actions, Hydeia Broadbent, Katrina Haslip, Dawn 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 2021. Applications 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 Audio / Slides / 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

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. From increasing data on demonstrating the efficacy of DoxyPEP (doxycycline as post-exposure prophylaxis) against some sexually transmitted infections (STIs); and advances in the promise of long-acting PrEP; to data that reinforces the reliability of affordable rapid testing to screen for HIV— Monday showcased vitally important scientific insights.  

Sessions throughout the day, as well as at Sunday’s opening session, reminded all participants that every one of the scientic advances presented at CROI will fail, unless the voices of people who need solutions are heard, amplified and elevated and allowed to lead the discussions.  

Social and behavioral researchers discuss equity with R&D during CROI Community Breakfast Talk   

Monday’s Community Breakfast Club focused on social and behavioral science at CROI – disciplines that have often been marginalized. Speakers pointed out the ongoing need for more of this essential research at CROI. “As much as we try to discover new devices, they need to reach people to have impact. For example, long acting injectables have not worked in real life because we’ve neglected the complexity of rolling [them] out,” said LaRon Nelson, of the Yale School of Nursing. And Sari Reisner, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan underscored that the outcomes of research are directly tied to the level of involvement from communities whom research is ultimately meant to serve. Don’t miss two more days of programming, sign up here. 

The HIV vaccine search continues 

Barney Graham and Julie McElrath both provided overviews of three decades of HIV vaccine research, and its current status. Graham explained in his opening session Fields Lecture how insights on HIV structure paved the way for rapid understanding of the SARS-COV-2 and resulting vaccines.  

And in her Monday plenary, McElrath summarized the collective knowledge gained from the ten vaccine efficacy trials that have been conducted over the past 20 years. (And check out our new summary graphic of the efficacy trials to date.) She then outlined the key strategies now moving forward–inducing broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs), inducing supplementary CD8+ T-cell responses, and delivering bNAbs as passive protection while learning about vaccine design. Further sessions dug into finer details of early-stage investigations—updates on germline-targeting trials, which use a series of vaccines to prompt the body to develop precursors that lead to bNAbs; and newer adjuvants that enhance the germline targeting strategy 

Even longer long-acting PrEP products? 

A longer-acting injectable cabotegravir for prevention (injectable CAB) has made it through a phase 1 safety and tolerability study. ViiV, the maker of the currently approved injectable cabotegravir, presented findings on a new formulation that could double the time between intramuscular jabs, from two to four months, potentially making it a three-dose annual intervention, instead of six doses.  

Merck also presented data on the safety and pharmacokinetic profile of MK-8527, a product that they are hoping to develop as a monthly pill to prevent HIV. They reported the dose was safe, well-tolerated and sufficient to show anti-viral activity against HIV. The product is currently in a phase 2 trial in several countries globally; and later phase studies would be needed to demonstrate efficacy. Check out our prevention product timeline here. 

DoxyPEP brings down incidence of some STIs. But what else do we need to know? 

Studies corroborated the promise of DoxyPEP to bring down STIs. The DoxyVAC study showed reduced incidence of chlamydia and syphilis and some reduction of gonorrhea. But a vaccine against meningococcal disease (the 4CMenB vaccine) did not show a reduction in gonorrhea incidence, which was seen in an earlier phase of the research. Studies out of San Francisco of men who have sex with men and trans women showed a high demand for DoxyPEP among PrEP users and STI incidence decline. But there remain many questions on DoxyPEP. More data is needed for use among cisgender women, as well as research among communities in low-income countries. Many researchers and advocates are calling for more data on DoxyPEP’s potential to increase antimicrobial resistance (AMR)—which needs more attention as guidelines accelerate DoxyPEP use. Join us in April for an STI Awareness week webinar series where Fabian Kong, Annie Luetkemeyer, and Connie Celum will lead a discussion on AMR, DoxyPEP and more. Sign up here to receive updates, www.avac.org/signup. 

Can we eliminate HPV? 

In what proved to be one of the most elegant plenaries ever delivered, Nelly Mugo from the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) provided a remarkable presentation on Shall We Reach Human Papillomavirus Elimination in the Face of Inequity? Her presentation reinforced the essential need to link the best possible science with deep and durable community engagement. And it was quite fitting that she delivered her talk on HPV Awareness Day, when AVAC, TogetHER for Health and partners launched a call to action for global leadership to increase access to lifesaving HPV vaccines for people living with HIV. 

Stay tuned for more updates from AVAC as we track the research and discussion at #CROI2024, and don’t forget to join us Tuesday and Wednesday for the Community Breakfast Clubs. 

Avac Event

MOSAIC Global PrEP Learning Network – Building a Brand for PrEP: Positioning PrEP in the Hearts and Minds of Young People


With choice of PrEP products on the horizon – including oral PrEP, the PrEP ring, and injectable cabotegravir for PrEP (CAB PrEP) – PrEP marketing and demand generation must evolve with the availability of new PrEP products. Young people, in particular, need PrEP demand generation campaigns tailored to their needs and aspirations. In this webinar, we will hear from teams working to change the landscape of PrEP marketing by applying private sector approaches to brand the PrEP category. We will also hear how they are developing fresh, dynamic, and evidence-informed campaigns to increase PrEP awareness and encourage PrEP use among young people in Africa.

This webinar is being hosted by PEPFAR, USAID, and MOSAIC.

Avac Event

Global Key Populations HIV Prevention Pre-Conference

The Global Key Populations HIV Prevention Pre-Conference is a groundbreaking pre-conference, aimed at revolutionizing HIV prevention for key populations and LGBTQI communities, is set to take place in Munich, Germany, on July 20th, 2024. Organized by the Global Black Gay Men Connect (GBGMC) in collaboration with the Key Population Advisory Group, AVAC, Coalition PLUS, and Fierté Afrique Francophone this event is a critical precursor to the 25th International AIDS Conference.

Join us for CROI 2024!

AVAC and partners have worked to follow and explain the research presented at CROI for many years, making the science more accessible, connecting the findings to community priorities, and ensuring civil society and affected communities are represented within the program, and ultimately the research.