This document lays out AVAC’s plan to transition away from traditional power structures when working with partners — from civil society advocates to scientists, policy makers, program implementers, and more. AVAC strives towards a model in which those with lived experience and field expertise have influence and equal voice in the design and delivery of plans and priorities.
AVAC Partnership Strategy 2023-2026
Avac Event
STI & HIV World Congress (ISSTDR) 2023
The STI & HIV World Congress (also known as ISSTDR) kicks off in Chicago, Illinois, USA and AVAC will be there. This is the first major face-to-face meeting of STI & HIV professionals since 2019 and one of the only spaces the global STI community comes together to promote ongoing STI research efforts and exchange information on current investigations. This is also the first time AVAC is attending ISSTDR in hopes of expanding STI advocacy and community engagement.
STI & HIV World Congress Resources
- Use AVAC’s Roadmap to find sessions where prevention, pandemic preparedness and the larger issues of global health equity are in the spotlight. You can download it as a sortable spreadsheet or PDF and the full conference program is here.
- Follow events in real time with the official hashtag, #STIHIV2023, AVAC will offer comments and updates on Twitter.
Visit STIWatch.org, a new resource for the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) community to better understand and advocate for STI vaccine and diagnostics research, development and rollout.
STI & HIV World Congress 2023 Roadmap
Check out some AVAC-featured sessions below.
The STI Prevention Pipeline: Where Are We, and What Will It Take to Move Forward Faster?
Monday, July 24 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM in the Cadmium Room
Join us to explore the current development and implementation stages of STI vaccines and diagnostics and identify ways to accelerate research through advocacy.
Symposium: New Vaccine Approaches to STI Prevention STI Vaccine Acceptance and Equity
Tuesday, July 25 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM in Chicago 6
Join AVAC’s Alison Footman to dive into the topic of STI vaccines and equity as new interventions come into reach.
Setting Up a Remote/Home Testing STI Programme: A Practical Toolkit
Thursday, July 25 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM in Sheraton IV/V Room
Join us to explore the power of remote testing to affordably curb STI acquisitions.
Community Happy Hour
Monday, July 24, 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Lizzie McNeill’s
Join AVAC and partners for a no frills happy hour for the STI community. All are welcome!
ISSTDR Advocacy Zone
Monday, July 24 to Thursday, July 27 at the Exhibit Hall
Visit the Advocacy Zone, a space to ask important questions, connect with fellow STI advocates, and begin to chart next steps in advancing STI R&D.
Avac Event
AIDSImpact Conference
June 12 to 14, 2023
The COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and other ongoing conflicts in the world, have globally disrupted health services and affected treatment and psychosocial care of people living with HIV.
HIV prevention including HIV testing has also been negatively affected.
In order to ensure that HIV continues to feature on the worldwide agenda, focus and determination will be required.
The theme of the AIDSImpact 2023 is therefore. Power for Action Now!
Webinar Recording on Global PPPR Equity
Global PPPR Equity: Why do we need agreements on IP and tech transfers?
Over the past two decades, HIV advocates have engaged in hard battles for equitable access to HIV/AIDS drugs and prevention options and have had some big wins. The process of these negotiations has led to strong relationships that have enshrined certain equity provisions as standard in clinical trials and manufacturing of HIV drugs. Through these battles, we’ve learned clear lessons on the necessity for such agreements and what’s required to secure them.
Throughout global PPPR agreements in 2023, governments and advocates in the Global South are asking for provisions on equity in the form of temporary IP waivers, mandatory tech transfer, and mandatory licensing for pandemic tools.
This panel discussed lessons from the HIV epidemic and explore why governments of the Global South and advocates think we still need to address ‘the IP question’.
Featured Speakers included Fifa Rahman, Brook Baker, Fitsum Lakew, and Esteban Burrone
PPPR Advocacy 101: Find out what it means to you
Over the coming months, global leaders will make key decisions about several initiatives to prepare for the next pandemic. What they commit to and how much they will spend, and how well these plans incorporate equity as a principle across all of these agreements, is in question.
Deadlines for civil society to influence these decisions are coming up. There’s a Pandemic Fund. There’s a Pandemic Accord. There are UN High-Level Meetings. There’s also something called the Medical Countermeasures, or MCM, platform. The MCM platform would coordinate drugs, vaccines and other equipment for health emergencies.
In our last podcast, we spoke with Chris Collins, President of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, TB and Malaria about all these efforts. Ultimately, these decisions will build a new architecture for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response, or PPPR.
Chris and the HIV community have been calling for stronger health systems and expanded domestic funding for health, and have been pushing for a rights-based approach to pandemic prevention, preparedness and response—one that builds on the decades of advocacy that has shaped the response to HIV.
But it’s not clear whether planning for the next pandemic is heeding these lessons.
Karrar Karrar, who heads up Health Policy at Save the Children, and Samantha Rick, who leads AVAC’s PPPR policy advocacy, have been tracking these efforts closely. They are joining us today to explain exactly what commitments for equity are needed and who needs to hear this advocacy and when.
Listen
Transcript
Resources
- The Shape of Pandemic Preparedness is Being Decided. Now is the Time for Collective Action Advocates’ Guide for PPPR in 2023, AVAC
- Advocates’ Guide for PPPR in 2023, AVAC
- Prevent, Prepare, and Respond: An analysis of global health architecture for pandemic preparedness, AVAC
- We Have Cutting-Edge Science to Make Vaccines, but Will Everyone Benefit?, New York Times commentary from Barney Graham
- The World Health Summit: Hitting the target, or missing the mark?, AVAC
- Leveraging the HIV response to strengthen pandemic preparedness, PLOS Global Public Health
- WHO’s Pandemic Treaty: Promises of equity should be kept, The Lancet Global Health
Avac Event
Global PPPR Equity: Why do we need agreements on IP and tech transfers?
April 6, 2023, 9:00AM Washington/2:00PM London/4:00PM Nairobi
Over the past two decades, HIV advocates have engaged in hard battles for equitable access to HIV/AIDS drugs and prevention options and have had some big wins. The process of these negotiations has led to strong relationships that have enshrined certain equity provisions as standard in clinical trials and manufacturing of HIV drugs. Through these battles, we’ve learned clear lessons on the necessity for such agreements and what’s required to secure them.
Throughout global PPPR agreements in 2023, governments and advocates in the Global South are asking for provisions on equity in the form of temporary IP waivers, mandatory tech transfer, and mandatory licensing for pandemic tools.
This panel will discuss lessons from the HIV epidemic and explore why governments of the Global South and advocates think we still need to address ‘the IP question’.
Featured Speakers: Fifa Rahman, Brook Baker, Fitsum Lakew, and moderated by Samantha Rick, AVAC
Avac Event
PrEP That Booty: The latest on rectal microbicide research for the back door
Thursday, June 29 at 9:00 AM–10:30AM ET
Most of what we hear about regarding the HIV prevention pipeline is about long-acting, longer-acting, and even longer-acting products that deliver drug throughout the body and require a trained clinician to deliver. However, these attributes are not desirable to many folks, and communities want a range of choices. Researchers and advocates for years have been working on HIV prevention products specifically for the back door (rectum) to provide protection during anal intercourse. These products are user-controlled, non-systemic (the drug stays in the booty and only the booty), and are short-acting, so you don’t have to commit to having a prevention drug in your body for a year or longer. Join us for a dynamic discussion regarding the latest research on Booty PrEP – aka rectal microbicides – with our multi-talented panel.
Speakers include: Jonathan Baker, PA, Laser Surgery Care, Dr. Craig Hendrix, Johns Hopkins, Juan Michael Porter II, The Body, and Dr. Sharon Riddler, University of Pittsburgh
Supporting a Global Movement
Supporting a growing network of advocates fighting for HIV prevention and global health equity
Been There, Did That – Research Reflections from CROI 2023
Thursday, March 23 at 10:00–11:30am ET
Speakers included community leaders and researchers reflecting on the most interesting, consequential science presented at CROI 2023.
Co-moderated by Devan Nambiar, Gay Men’s Sexual Health Alliance and CROI 2023 Community Educator Scholar
Featured researcher:
Dr. Monica Gandhi, UCSF
Featured community speakers:
CROI 2023 Community Educator Scholars
Recording / Dr. Monica Ghandi’s Slides / Community Educator Slides
Margarita Breakfast Club Session 3: The Data Gap: Filling in the Missing Perspectives on Women and Children in HIV Research
Wednesday, February 22 at 7:00–8:00am PT
AVAC, the CROI Community Liaison Subcommittees, European AIDS Treatment Group, and other partners hosted virtual Margarita Breakfast Clubs (MBCs) for the 2023 CROI meeting. Speaker details, recording, and resources for the third 2023 MBC below.
- Moderator: Dawn Averitt, The Well Project, Women’s Research Initiative on HIV/AIDS
- Speakers: Professor Lee Fairlie, WITS RHI, Imelda Mahaka, Pangaea Zimbabwe AIDS Trust, Jane Kabami, Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration Uganda