HIV Vaccine Awareness Day 2023: Hard lessons, innovation & new directions

May 18th is recognized as HIV Vaccine Awareness Day (HVAD), and this year it is a time of deep reflection and potential. Three major HIV vaccine trials have ended in no efficacy since 2020, but the field knows more than ever that a vaccine is still needed for a durable and sustainable end to the pandemic – and has new insights into possible vaccine strategies that might one day effectively protect against HIV.

This year, AVAC and CASPR partners are casting a spotlight on the many issues and opportunities for HVAD 2023. Check it all out here! And read on for details about a wide range of new resources.

New PxPulse Podcast Episode!

billboard advertising the new podcast episode

Listen to the newest PxPulse podcast, “Evolving Strategies for an HIV Vaccine: One researcher explains where the field is going and why,” featuring Katy Stephenson of Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research. In conversation with AVAC’s Jeanne Baron, Katy provides an accessible breakdown of where the field of HIV vaccine research is, including details on recent trial results that proved ineffective and what’s next (and exciting) in HIV vaccine advocacy and research.

Save the Date for Two Upcoming Webinars!

save the date advertisement for these upcoming webinars

What’s All the Buzz About: mRNA, manufacturing, vaccines access

Thursday, June 1 at 10am ET / 4pm SAST
Featuring Caryn Fenner of Afrigen Biologics, Ike James of Medicines Patent Pool, and Mike Frick of Treatment Action Group. Register here.

To bNAb or not to bNAb? The case for broadly neutralizing antibodies

Wednesday, June 7 at 10 AM ET / 4 PM SAST
Featuring Slim Abdool Karim of CAPRISA, Pervin Anklesaria of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Khadija Richards of Wits RHI, and Huub Gelderblom of HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN). Register here.

CASPR Partner and Collaborator HVAD Events

Communities across the globe will be engaged in a wide array of events focused on HIV vaccine awareness in the coming days. Here, we provide details on activities the Coalition to Accelerate & Support Prevention Research (CASPR) partners are leading – be sure to watch AVAC’s Twitter for real-time highlights!

New Series of Advocate Briefs

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In the weeks to come, we’ll release From the Lab to the Jab, a series of briefs on next generation vaccine research and development; the basics of mRNA technology; initiatives that support local manufacturing; and understanding and overcoming barriers that undermine equitable access to vaccines. Each brief also highlights the advocacy needed to keep these efforts on track and in line with what communities need and want.

New Resources

AVAC has updated our recent HIV vaccine primers. And we’re sharing a viewpoint written in the Journal of the International AIDS Society.

As the science continues to advance, we hope these resources inform our collective advocacy. With the knowledgeable voices of advocates guiding the response, scientific successes will not be squandered, communities won’t be left behind, programs will be people-centered, and epidemics will end.

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

Produced and hosted by Jeanne Baron

With several large HIV vaccine trials in the last few years finding no efficacy, the field is in transition. There are diverse ideas in vaccine research, but there’s no clear concept that’s ready to test in a late-phase trial or move towards product development currently. Researchers are back to testing new ideas in early phase research.

In this episode of our Px Pulse podcast, 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. Katy is a doctor, a researcher, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and part of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research.

Listen:

Resources:

Experimental Medicine Vaccine Trials (EMVTs): Opportunities and Challenges

In 2023, AVAC and CASPR partners cast a spotlight on many issues and opportunities for HIV vaccine science. This one-pager highlights key conversations.

Avac Event

SCOPE Community E-meeting: Developments in the HIV and STIs biomedical prevention pipeline

The European AIDS Treatment Group, along with European and local organizations are coming together for a virtual meeting via Zoom e-meeting on Wednesday, May 24 at 6:00 to 7:30 AM ET (12:00 – 13:30 PM CET).

This interactive e-meeting for community educators and advocates will provide an update on the latest developments in biomedical HIV and STIs prevention research and implementation, new approaches and future challenges. Participants will learn from each other and discuss community preferences, uptake and access issues, as well as advocacy efforts to overcome policy and financial barriers at local, regional and European level. Live interpretation in English and Russian will be provided. This meeting is part of the SCOPE Project.

Avac Event

SCOPE Community E-meeting: Developments in PrEP implementation issues

The European AIDS Treatment Group, along with European and local organizations are coming together for a virtual meeting via Zoom e-meeting on Wednesday, May 24 at 6:00 to 7:30 AM ET (12:00 – 13:30 PM CET).

This interactive e-meeting for community educators and advocates will provide an update on the latest developments and issues in PrEP implementation. Participants will learn from each other and discuss community preferences, uptake and access issues, as well as advocacy efforts to overcome policy and financial barriers at local, regional and European level. Live interpretation in English and Russian will be provided. This meeting is part of the SCOPE Project.

Avac Event

Women Deliver 2023

The Women Deliver 2023 Conference (WD2023) will take place in  Kigali, Rwanda  and online from July 17 to July 20.

Women Deliver convenings catalyze conversations with stakeholders from around the world, break barriers, address challenges, and identify opportunities to advance gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and improve the wellbeing of girls and women, in all their intersecting identities.

Avac Event

IAS (International AIDS Society) 2023

The 12th annual conference of the International AIDS Society (IAS) on HIV science takes place July 23–26 in Brisbane, Australia, and virtually. This year’s conference will offer the latest on vaccine and cure science, research updates on broadly neutralizing antibodies, important discussions on trial design in the era of PrEP, the potential of community-led models of care and the importance of integrating services for HIV and sexual and reproductive health (SRH). AVAC and partners will be there! Read on for an overview.

Just ahead of the conference, UNAIDS released their annual state of the epidemic report, The Path that Ends AIDS. The report charts a path that can end AIDS, and documents important progress, but challenges remain. Among them, global resources for HIV are marking another year of decline. With anti-LGTBQIA+ legal actions increasing in the US and in several African countries and reduced resources, efforts to end the epidemic will fail. See AVAC’s new graphic on the issue.

IAS 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.
  • Follow events in real time, AVAC will offer comments and updates on Twitter, and our friends at NAM/AIDSMAP will be reporting throughout the conference. Join the conversation using the conference hashtag #IAS2023.

Satellites, Sessions and Panels Featuring AVAC and Partners

All times listed are local in Brisbane, Australia. Click for a time zone converter.

Sunday, July 23

Tuesday, July 25

Wednesday, July 26

Poster Presentations

  • No Data No More: A tool to end the exclusion of trans and gender-diverse people in HIV research
  • Raising New Voices in HIV Cure Research: A review of an advocacy-for-cure academy and grant program
  • The Value of Measuring Outcomes of HIV Advocacy: Utilising a novel and participatory approach for advocacy evaluation
  • HIV Prevention Research & Development Investments 2001-2021: Shifting investment priorities fund innovation in a challenging global health landscape
  • Revolution of Transgender Health Programming: The role of transgender activists in Health programming for Malawi

While many will be gathering in Australia for the IAS conference, the 27th International Society for Sexually Transmitted Diseases Research (ISSTDR)is happening in Chicago at the same time – and AVAC will be there, too. Stay tuned for an update later this week for AVAC’s STI Roadmap and dedicated STI conference page. Advocates, implementers and researchers in both fields have much work to do together.

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 

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

STD Engage 2023

STD Engage 2023 will take place in-person in New Orleans, Louisiana (US) this year from May 16-18, 2023, with pre-conference events on May 15.

STD Engage is an annual US meeting that brings together state and local sexual health professionals and their community-based partners for cross-jurisdictional collaboration and problem-solving. This conference is hosted by National Coalition of STD Directors.

HIV Prevention Plus Plus: Developing Options that Meet the Full Range of our Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs

Tuesday, April 25 at 9:00 AM–10:30AM ET

Despite a dynamic research and development (R&D) pipeline for prevention products, male and female condoms remain the only multi-purpose prevention technologies (MPTs) currently available. Yet MPTs are an integral part of the HIV prevention advocacy agenda. For decades, advocates have pushed for products to be developed that simultaneously prevent HIV, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and/or pregnancy.

With a growing number of PrEP options already, what will it take to bring a new MPT to market? A Dual Prevention Pill (DPP – https://www.prepwatch.org/products/dual-prevention-pill/) that prevents both HIV and pregnancy could be just two years away. Looking further upstream, there are over 25 other MPTs in the pipeline (https://www.prepwatch.org/research-pipeline/), including vaginal rings, which would follow in the footsteps of the dapivirine vaginal ring recommended by WHO and recently approved in several countries.

Within this fast-evolving HIV prevention landscape, work is already underway to build a platform to introduce the DPP, which could speed up the rollout of other MPTs. Join us to hear what we’ve learned so far on R&D, marketing, counseling and delivery for MPTs – and to discuss what we can do now to prepare prevention markets to include new MPT options.

Featured Speakers:
Ruth Akulu, ICWEA, AVAC fellow
Barbara Friedland, Population Council
Gregorio Millet, amfAR
Dr. Thesla Palanee-Phillips, Wits RHI
Danielle Resar, Clinton Health Access Initiative
Co-moderators: Wawira Nyagah, AVAC Kate Segal, AVAC

Recording / Slides / Resources