Avac Event

Reporting the African Science Story: Decoding scientific research to support public health in Africa

Eastern time zone

Generating compelling and nuanced media stories on health and science depends on strong connections between researchers and providers, journalists reporting the story, and civil society and community members who have critical perspectives to share. Researchers need skills to explain science in plain language and be open to questions. Civil society and affected communities are also a crucial component to strong news coverage, providing advocacy perspectives that capture the full impact of a given issue. 

Since 2012, AVAC has worked to support health journalist associations in East and Southern Africa to strengthen the capacity of journalists to report on HIV prevention research. In 2020, AVAC expanded this work to include COVID science. Through the Media Science Café Program, AVAC partners with health media associations in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe to bring journalists together with researchers, implementers, civil society, policy makers, regulators and policy makers to build relationships that will foster accurate reporting of HIV, COVID and other science or health stories in those countries. 

The monthly cafés are structured as informal meetings with 20-30 journalists and expert speakers. Experts in the field gather to present and discuss timely health topics. 

Moderators: Kay Marshall, AVAC Zarina Geloo, Zambia Media Cafe Convener

Speakers: Esther Nakkazi, Uganda Media Cafe Convener Anna Miti, Zimbabwe Media Cafe Convener

Recording / Slides / Resources

Px Pulse: A season of listening

As we look ahead to 2024 and the vital work AVAC and partners will be carrying forward, the conversations from 2023 offer guidance and insights. Px Pulse, AVAC’s podcast on critical issues facing HIV prevention research, hosted several not-be-missed conversations in 2023 that will reverberate into the year ahead.  

From a stalled PEPFAR reauthorization to LGBTQIA+ voices fighting persecution in Uganda; from efforts to bring equity to a new global architecture for pandemic readiness to advances in HIV vaccine science and advocacy to include pregnant people in research—we hope that all of these conversations can inform our advocacy in 2024. Click on the episode for both recordings and resources.

PEPFAR at 20: Keeping the promise (23:16)

Considered one of the greatest US foreign policy and global development achievements of the century, the program has saved upwards of 25 million lives since it launched in 2003. But PEPFAR is marking its 20th anniversary while fighting for its future. LISTEN HERE.

LGBTQIA+ Advocacy in Uganda: Facing down fear and fighting for justice (24:19)

In March 2023, the Ugandan Parliament moved forward broad-reaching legislation to further criminalize LGBTQIA+ people. This podcast features Ugandan advocates and AVAC partners discussing the specifics of how these attacks have gained momentum and their ties to US-based religious extremists. The advocates discuss what needs to happen next. LISTEN HERE.

The Shape of Pandemic Preparedness is Being Decided. Now is the Time for Collective Action (15:14)

Health leaders around the world are in the midst of creating a new architecture to deal with pandemics. Chris Collins, the CEO and President at Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, talks about what’s at stake, which policymakers get it already, why this year matters so much, and what advocates can do about it. LISTEN HERE.

PPPR Advocacy 101: Find out what it means to you (19:05)

Over the coming months, global leaders will make key decisions about several initiatives to prepare for the next pandemic. This podcast explores what they commit to, how much they will spend and how well these plans safeguard equity. LISTEN HERE.

Inclusion of Pregnant and Lactating People in HIV Research: What you need to know (34:28)

AVAC’s Manju Chatani-Gada takes us through conversations with a trial participant who became pregnant, researchers, policymakers and donors to understand why this population gets excluded, the impact it has and what to do about it. LISTEN HERE.

Evolving Strategies for an HIV Vaccine: One researcher explains where the field is going and why? (21:23)

Evolving Strategies for an HIV Vaccine: One researcher explains where the field is going and why? Dr. Katy Stephenson explores the implications of recent trial results, the big questions driving next generation vaccine development, and new strategies underway in early phase research. LISTEN HERE.

Happy listening—and let us know what topics you want to hear more about in 2024! 

A Call to Greater Action

Mobilizing People of Faith to Build Networks to Protect Human Rights and Overcome Homophobia

A call to action for faith leaders from across the region to join in solidarity in defense of human rights and evidence-based HIV prevention, including for vulnerable populations.

AVAC Commemorates World AIDS Day

This World AIDS Day we at AVAC are reflecting on remarkable gains and increasing threats to progress against AIDS. Our latest issue of PxWire, tracking trends in research, development and delivery of HIV prevention options, speaks to this important progress: 

However, as we look to 2024, all these gains could be imperiled by political and financial choices facing leaders today.

The answers to these questions will require donors and political leaders to do the right thing, and it will depend on us, a global movement of advocates with a track record of world-changing achievements, to stay the course and build the road to reach everyone one of these goals. Below are a few key resources to support your work. 

From the Lab to the Jab

A series of advocates guides on key issues to ensure equitable access to safe, effective, and affordable vaccines.

Learn more.

Call to Action for Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision

A report on next steps to advance the role of VMMC in ending the epidemic.

Learn more.

Good Participatory Practice: Body of Evidence

An online package of resources to support advocacy for GPP as an international standard for clinical trials.

Learn more.

The HIV Prevention Choice Manifesto

A historic milestone in the power of community-led leadership and prioritization of choice in HIV prevention.  

Learn more.

Progress Against HIV and AIDS is Fragile

POZ Magazine’s interview with Mitchell Warren, with a comprehensive look at the status of the fight against HIV/AIDS and the scientific breakthroughs to date and still needed to end the epidemic.

Read more.

The Anti-HIV Jab is Coming to South Africa

Bhekisisa’s Mia Malan and AVAC’s Mitchell Warren breakdown what it will take to get injectable CAB for PrEP to everyone who needs it.

Listen here.

A Call to Action: Scale Up HPV Vaccination in People Living with HIV

In a new call to action, Mitchell Warren and Heather White, executive director of TogetHER for Health, argue that the time is now to invest in efforts to ensure that people living with HIV can live their lives without the threat of cervical cancer.

Read more.

At AVAC, we believe it’s up to all of us to make sure the world does not squander another decade in slow, fragmented rollout of life-saving innovation in HIV prevention or risk underfunding research and development. If we work together to build equity into the rollout of options that exist already and support the promise of expanding choices in the near future, the world will at long last bend the curve of HIV.  

AVAC and Partners at ICASA 2023

Join AVAC and partners for the biennial International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (ICASA), in Harare, Zimbabwe December 4-9. More than 30 of our partners will convene at the meeting to champion community leadership and amplify their role in shaping local, national and global responses and delivering impactful advocacy. Community leadership on a range of issues are instrumental to: 

  • Accelerate and expand access to proven prevention options that people want and need. 
  • Dismantle the structural barriers to health faced by key populations. 
  • Intensify demands for robust domestic and global funding for health. 
  • Integrate HIV services with sexual and reproductive health. 
  • And much more. 

Scroll down for a roadmap to ICASA’s prevention program, and details on sessions and events that you won’t want to miss. 

Sessions of Interest

Sunday, December 3

  • Biomedical Prevention Forum 
    9:00-15:00 GMT 
    The Biomedical Prevention Forum will be held as a hybrid event bringing together advocates, civil society representatives, researchers, government officials and front-line providers to explore and discuss the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in biomedical HIV prevention, while emphasizing the importance of choice and its transformative impact on HIV prevention efforts. This is an open event. Register here. 
  • Key Populations Preconference 
    9:00-15:00 GMT 
    The Africa Key Populations Experts Group (AKPEG), African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA), the African Network of People Using Drugs (AfricanPUD) and African Queer Youth Initiative (AQYI) Advocates for Prevention of HIV and AIDS in Africa (APHA), Global Black Gay Men Connect (GBGMC) and partners will host a safe platform to deliberate on the state of the HIV epidemic among Key Populations and to determine the stumbling blocks for progress on the path that ends AIDS for Key Populations.

Monday, December 4

Tuesday, December 5

  • Advancing Integrated Biomedical Prevention: Best Practices from Zimbabwe (Session 2) 
    8:45-09:30 GMT
    This satellite session will discuss best practices and lessons learned from the delivery of biomedical HIV prevention and Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision services as we work to further universal health coverage and robust health systems. Partners will launch a global call to action to unite, mobilize, and advocate for continued prioritized funding, sustained commitment, and strategic integration of VMMC into national and global prevention strategies.
  • Catalyzing a sustainable HIV prevention agenda: Approaches to expand local action on global commitments
    10:45-11:30 GMT
    Leveraging new strategic plans for HIV prevention, including the PEPFAR’s 5-year Strategy and UNAIDS’ Prevention Road Map, this satellite session will discuss combination prevention in the context of a sustainable HIV response and highlight a variety of approaches and models that leverage country and stakeholder-led innovations to meet the challenge.
  • Coordinating Implementation Science for CAB for PrEP: BioPIC’s Implementation Study Tracker 
    12:25-12:35 GMT
    In this oral abstract session, AVAC will present a new dashboard, which reflects all currently known activities relating to implementation research, modelling, clinical research, and landscaping for new late-stage biomedical HIV PrEP options, including cabotegravir for PrEP and the dapivirine vaginal ring.
  • Policy, Politics and HIV Management 
    13:05-13:50 GMT
    In this oral abstract session, Princess Mharire from Pangaea Zimbabwe AIDS Trust (PZAT) will present, Beyond Metrics: How the Simple Participatory Assessment of Real Change (SPARC) Tool Provides a Holistic Approach to Advocacy Measurement, and Joseph Njowa of PZAT will share the COMPASS MERL model in a presentation, Innovative tools for planning, monitoring, and evaluation of advocacy campaigns. 

Wednesday, December 7

Friday, December 8

  • Strengthen integration for better SRHR outcomes 
    10:45-11:30 GMT
    This concurrent session will feature Advocates for Prevention of HIV and AIDS in Africa’s (APHA) Yvette Raphael and will explore linkages between unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortion, and HIV.
  • HIV Prevention-Right Place, Right time 
    13:05-13:50 GMT
    This concurrent session will feature Maureen Luba of AVAC, Definate Nhamo of PZAT and Yvette Raphael of APHA. 

AVAC and Partner Poster Presentations

Tuesday, December 5 

  • Maximizing private pharmacies for PrEP delivery to increase uptake: Lessons learnt from the Community Retail Pharmacy Distribution Point, Ruth Akulu 

Wednesday, December 6 

  • Journalist Training: A Key Advocacy Strategy, Catherine Madebe
  • Perceptions on the new biomedical HIV prevention methods among adolescent girls and young women in tertiary institutions in Zimbabwe, Cleo Makura
  • Lessons from Crisis Response from TaNPUD in Enhancing Harm Reduction from 2015 to 2018, Marineus Mutongore
  • Implementing Community led Monitoring for improved quality of HIV services in Tanzania, Mathew Kawogo
  • Impact of social media exposure on HIV services uptake among Tanzanian Young people: Implications for enhancing the HIV response, Marineus Mutongore
  • Effective Strategies for Operating COWLHA support groups of Adolescents Living with HIV: Case of Mangochi and Chikwawa Districts of Malawi, Harry Madukani

Thursday, December 7 

  • Understanding Choice of HIV Prevention Options among Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) in Zambia, Natasha Mwila
  • Leveraging HIV to Build a Global Health Research and Development (R&D) Equity Advocacy Agenda, John Meade
  • Championing advocacy for domestic resource mobilization for health research and development in Africa, Ethel Makila

Friday, December 8 

  • Rural Youth: Underserved and Unsafe When Seeking Care, Liyema Somnono
  • Redefining Coalition Governance and Leadership in Support of Decolonizing Global Health: The Evolution of the COMPASS Coalition, Roberta Sutton
  • Collaborative Monitoring & Evaluation to Support Learning and Strengthen Advocacy Coalitions: The MERL Hub, Grace Tetteh
  • Realities faced by street children predisposing them to HIV and STIs in Dodoma and Dar es Salaam Cities in Tanzania, Simon Shilagwa 

African Civil Society Mobilization for PEPFAR Reauthorization

Tuesday, November 28 at 7:00 AM ET

Moderator: Richard Muko, Regional Implementation Advocacy Manager, AVAC

Panelists: Joan Chamungu, Tanzanian Network of Women Living with HIV, Lawrence Khonyongwa, Malawi Network of People of Living with HIV, TBC, African Network of Youth Living with HIV, Annette Gaudino, Advocacy Coalition Manager, GAPP

Hosted by African Network of Youth Living with HIV (AY+), East African Network of AIDS Serving Organizations (EANNASO), Key Populations Trans-National Collaboration (KPTNC) and Coalition to build Momentum, Power, Activism, Strategy & Solidarity (COMPASS)

Join civil society organizations in PEPFAR recipient countries to discuss the status and political context of the current reauthorization and mobilize to call on the US Congress to recommit this life sustaining program. Bring your questions and please share this invitation widely in your relevant networks.

Recording / Slides

Pandemic Accord Briefing for Civil Society & Community Partners

The Pandemic Accord negotiations are ongoing, and should come to fruition next year. What do they mean for your work, your country, and the future of global health?

On Tuesday, November 21, 8:00 to 9:30 AM EST / 2:00 to 3:30 PM CEST, advocates came together to discuss two years of talks and what’s next to progress global health equity.

Recording

PrEP Resources Showcase

This dynamic, workshop-style showcase was the first of a series that featured multimedia presentations that took participants through key PrEP resources including: A toolkit to ensure programs related to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and HIV prevention are well designed to reach and support adolescent girls and young women. Comprehensive databases for tracking PrEP uptake, Implementation research and other critical data by product, country, and population.  

Small groups had opportunities to take deep dives into each of the above resources, and explore how they might use these in their work. Additionally, participants provided input on what resources are still needed, collaborate on how to improve and disseminate what exists, and support the development of evidence and networks to advance HIV prevention.

Global PrEP Tracker video / Integrated Study Dashboard video / Breaking the Cycle Toolkit video

On Transgender Day of Remembrance AVAC Announces TG ROAR 2023

By Jason Rosenberg

Today, on Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), as communities across the globe memorialize trans and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people targeted by violence and state-sanctioned bigotry, AVAC honors the trans community—those lost and those among us. We are committed, now more than ever, to fight these ongoing injustices and support TGNC advocates to lead on issues facing their communities.  

Riding the momentum of the release of the No Data No More Manifesto and the Trans-Inclusivity Scorecard, AVAC is relaunching TG ROAR, a program from our larger PxROAR initiative, dedicated to supporting TGNC HIV advocates in Eastern and Southern Africa. The new eight-member cohort will campaign for trans-centered, HIV research and service delivery while addressing the social, political and economic barriers that all too often stand in the way. 

Crimes against TGNC are on the rise as are rates of HIV incidence in trans populations. TGNC face unique barriers to testing, adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and maintaining viral suppression. Without meaningful trans inclusion in advocacy efforts there will be no epidemic control.  

Learn more about AVAC’s new cohort of TG ROAR advocates here: 

We continue to fight for transgender rights and invest in TGNC leadership to create a more equitable and just future for all.

Announcing the Good Participatory Practice Body of Evidence

We are thrilled to announce the Good Participatory Practice (GPP) Body of Evidence, a new online clearinghouse of case studies and analyses demonstrating the power of GPP, along with tools, templates and trainings for GPP implementation. The resources we’ve gathered for this much-needed “one-stop GPP shop” can be used to show the impact of GPP to date, how it can be measured going forward, and its practical application in real-time.  

The Good Participatory Practice Guidelines have been shaping and improving HIV prevention research since 2007. They provide a global reference guide for ethical and effective stakeholder engagement, helping ensure the priorities of trial participants and their communities are centered in clinical trials and broader research agendas.  

Over the past 16 years, the original GPP guidelines for HIV prevention have been issued in 10 languages and adapted to other disease areas, including tuberculosis, COVID-19, and emerging pathogens. GPP has given rise to a robust global community of practice, with an expansive history of lessons learned and success stories for the world to build upon. 

But GPP implementation is far from easy. Because GPP looks different in every context and outcomes can be difficult to quantify, engagement work is often seen as secondary to clinical processes, and therefore undervalued and under-resourced. The GPP Body of Evidence demonstrates the contribution of GPP to the research enterprise, and the professionalization of GPP implementation. 

Rest assured that this is not a one-off effort! Stay tuned for a webinar series in 2024 with key partners including WHO and Wellcome Trust that will highlight critical issues in stakeholder engagement in research, linking to corresponding resources from the Body of Evidence. And we’ll be keeping the Body of Evidence up to date – so please reach out if you have resources to add.  

It’s time for GPP to become an international standard for clinical research. Making that case and making it happen, using the GPP Body of Evidence, has never been easier.