For those presenting at INTEREST (as well as anyone interested in tracking the field), AVAC’s latest infographics on HIV R&D and the delivery pipeline, the current landscape of prevention options are available in an easy-to-use slide format—including lenacapavir for HIV PrEP (LEN) volume commitments, and the impact of US funding cuts with new data from PEPFAR. We hope these are useful for presentations and discussions at the conference and beyond.
We constantly update these graphics, so check back for updates. The latest version of the deck will be available here.
The Power of bNAbs: A new frontier in HIV cure research
In this video, from the Series of Jojo, viewers are introduced to broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) and how they might one day be used in finding a functional cure for HIV.
Launching STI Advocacy Hubs: National Agendas from Kenya, South Africa & Zimbabwe
Join AVAC and partners for the launch of STI Advocacy Hubs and the introduction of new country-led advocacy agendas from Kenya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. This webinar will highlight the key challenges shaping STI prevention, diagnostics, and care in each country, and outline priority actions to strengthen national responses. Speakers from partner organizations will share how these agendas aim to drive policy change and improve access to STI prevention tools.
Moderator: Alison Footman
Speakers:
Teodora Wi, former Team Lead for Sexually Transmitted Infections at the WHO
Lori Newman, Gates Foundation
Felix Mogaka and Mercy Nyakowa (Kenya)
Alex de Voux and Mandisa Mdingi (South Africa)
Chido Diva Chikwari, Chido Moira Majaha, and Constancia Mavodza (Zimbabwe)
Avac Event
Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2026)
Each day during CROI, AVAC, EATG, Fiocruz, TAG, and other partners hosted virtual webinars called Community Breakfast Clubs featuring researchers and advocates breaking down important prevention, treatment and cure science presented at CROI and the implications for the field.
Going to CROI? AVAC’s up-to-date infographics — on the research & development pipeline, prevention options, and the impact of US funding cuts — are available here for use in conference presentations. We constantly update these graphics, so check back for updates. The latest version of the deck will be available here.
2025 underscored the vital role that AVAC plays in the global health ecosystem, and why our work and our partnerships have never been more essential.
This report highlights AVAC’s role as a trusted voice, a translator of science and catalyst for action and advocacy. It reflects an organization ready for the future: supporting African leadership, strengthening bridges from R&D to delivery and preparing for a new chapter as we move forward into our fourth decade as an organization. Read the PDF below or view as a webpage.
The PURPOSE trials evaluate the safety and efficacy of injectable lenacapavir (LEN), an investigational antiretroviral (ARV) drug being studied as a potential PrEP product. This graphic shows the latest status of all five trials including the groundbreaking results of PURPOSE 1 and PURPOSE 2.
One year ago, we sued the US Government…
Today marks one year since AVAC and the Journalism Development Network worked with the Public Citizen Litigation Group to sue the US President, the State Department, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and others, seeking emergency relief from a sweeping freeze on foreign assistance issued by the incoming administration that abruptly halted life-saving global health and development programs. A parallel case was brought by Global Health Council and partners and assigned to the same District Court judge, underscoring the broad concern across the global health community.
Twelve months later, these cases have come to symbolize a much larger question: whether the executive branch can override Congress’s constitutional authority over federal spending and dismantle decades of bipartisan foreign policy with the stroke of a pen, and whether the courts and Congress will fulfill their responsibilities to serve as checks on unbridled executive power.
The past year has laid bare the real-world consequences of unchecked executive action, threatening lives, destabilizing global partnerships, and undermining the United States’ credibility as a reliable partner.
An early ruling in AVAC’s case successfully unlocked nearly $2 billion in US government payments for work already completed, affirming that the executive branch cannot refuse to spend money appropriated by Congress. But over the course of 2025, appeals by the administration, ultimately backed by the US Supreme Court, ran down the clock on $4 billion in already-appropriated funds for the 2025 fiscal year, allowing them to expire.
While the Supreme Court’s ruling did not resolve the underlying constitutional questions, the decision was narrow and the Court left open the opportunity for further argument on the merit of the questions involved. In November 2025, a joint statement to the District Court requested to pause the cases, awaiting the outcome of other relevant court decisions.
The AVAC and GHC cases remain active, but lawsuits alone cannot restore what was lost—or undo the long-term harm caused by the sudden dismantling of global health systems.
The actions by this administration demand more than concern. This moment demands public accountability, sustained Congressional oversight, and durable legislative safeguards. Global health and equity require champions willing to fight for lives and livelihoods, and for what’s right. We cannot accept this as the new normal, and we must insist that Congressional authority, democratic governance, and the lives they protect still matter.
Change in PrEP Initiations from 2024 to 2025 in Five Countries
Between the period January-September 2024 to January-September 2025, PrEP initiations fell between 13% and 66% in selected high-volume PrEP countries where ministries of health (MoH) were able to provide data. Among the five countries depicted, four saw significant decline in PrEP uptake. All four relied on PEPFAR PrEP programs and were disrupted by stop work orders (SWO).
Global Health Watch: Reflecting on 1 Year of Chaos and What’s Next, Congress Pushes Back, the Future of WHO, US Undermines African Authority
Issue 52
This week marks 365 days of disruption and chaos across global health, with many organizations and journalists reflecting on one year after the foreign aid freeze and what the future of global health looks like. This week also saw the US Congress beginning to reassert its role on health funding, ongoing US disengagement from WHO, and new reporting on the hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau.
We are also watching closely for news of an expanded Global Gag Rule, that is reportedly coming out later today, just as this issue goes to press. It is anticipated that this new gag will include a dramatic expansion beyond abortion and now underscore the US administration’s war on gender, diversity, equity and inclusion. We’ll cover this in next week’s Global Health Watch; the struggle, most definitely, continues.
365 Days of Chaos and Disruption, What Comes Next for Global Health
This week marks one year since the US Presidential administration issued a deeply cruel executive order freezing foreign assistance, halting billions of dollars in already-approved funding under the bad-faith claim of a “90-day review”. What followed was not a brief pause, but a drawn-out, chaotic disruption that stopped life-saving work across the globe, shutting down valuable organizations, and harming lives, health, and livelihoods. And that was just the beginning of a year of chaos. Many organizations and media coverage noted a growing recognition that the past year’s disruptions to global health were not just destructive, but catalytic, forcing a reckoning with how systems are built and for whom. Reporting from Bhekisisa reflected on how the sudden halt in US HIV funding exposed deep vulnerabilities in over-reliance on external aid, while also accelerating conversations about domestic financing, integration, and sustainability in the HIV response moving into 2026. At the same time, analyses fromHealth Policy Watch, Science, Nature, and The Lancet laid bare the human and scientific costs of abrupt policy shifts, shuttered programs, fractured research networks, and lost trust, while underscoring that simply restoring old funding streams will not be enough to meet future challenges.
IMPLICATIONS: Together, these stories and analyses point to the need to rethink and rebuild with stronger country ownership, diversified and predictable financing, resilient research institutions, and governance structures that prioritize equity, accountability, and community leadership. Rather than recreating the same architecture, reimagined global health systems must be less dependent on external donors and political ideology. As Global Health Watch has tracked for 52 weeks, the path forward is not about returning to the pre-foreign aid freeze status quo, but about using this period of disruption to construct a more durable, equitable, and responsive global health architecture. As Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, said so clearly at this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, “Nostalgia is not a strategy.”
Congress Steps Up In Defending Domestic and Global Health
The US Congress is beginning to reassert its constitutional role in shaping federal spending. The joint House and Senate FY26 funding bill released last week covering foreign operations would maintain funding for core global health priorities, including HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, polio, family planning and reproductive health, neglected tropical diseases, Gavi, and UN agencies such as UNAIDS, UNICEF, and UNFPA. This week, legislators rejected nearly $2 billion in proposed cuts to US domestic HIV and related programs through the Labor, Health and Human Services Education and Related Appropriations Act (LHHS), a “major victory” credited to sustained advocacy by people living with HIV, advocates, and service providers. The proposed bill largely preserves funding for domestic public health and biomedical research. As AVAC’s Suraj Madoori said in a statement, “These crucial wins for global and domestic HIV now require us to not hold back, and urge Congress to swiftly approve all the FY26 bills, push the President to sign them, and for us to ensure accountability in the administration to spend and implement this lifesaving funding as instructed by the people and those who represent us in Washington D.C.”
IMPLICATIONS: Together, these bills signal a return to a bipartisan appropriations process and, if enacted, provide a basis to push back against unilateral cuts by the administration. They also signal bipartisan pushback against attempts to cut health and scientific research investments. By rejecting the steep cuts proposed by the administration, they stabilize lifesaving programs and protect the research enterprise. The House passed the bills on Thursday, and the focus now shifts to the Senate, which must pass the bills by January 30. Then onto the President to sign, and, most critically, for the administration to actually spend all Congressionally appropriated funds.
This week also marks one year since the US announced its intended departure from World Health Organization (WHO). Debate over its future and the US’ role within it intensified as pressure from parts of the administration collided with growing concern over the consequences of disengagement. US officials and policymakers aligned with the “America First” strategy call for WHO to be fundamentally reformed or replaced. Analysts note that the US remains a formal member of WHO until debts are paid. Meanwhile, the US administration continues to withhold funding and delay payments, leaving millions of dollars in unpaid US obligations.
IMPLICATIONS: The current state, where the US remains technically engaged but substantively absent, poses serious risks for global health governance, disease surveillance and pandemic preparedness. As analyses from CSIS underscores, WHO reform is both necessary and possible, but meaningful reform requires constructive engagement, predictable financing, and political leadership, not abandonment.
Hepatitis B Vaccine Trial in Guinea-Bissau Undermines African Authority
Reporting this week is exposing a pattern of US actions that show deep disregard for African public health leadership, ethical research standards, and sovereignty. The US-funded hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau is at the center of this. As we reported in previous weeks, the unethical trial would delay birth-dose vaccination for thousands of newborns despite overwhelming evidence, and WHO guidance, that immediate vaccination saves lives. According to Rolling Stone, the study was championed by US officials aligned with anti-vaccine ideology and advanced even as Africa CDC officials raised alarm and indicated the trial should be halted. At the same time, the US administration has been marginalizing Africa CDC more broadly, cutting engagement, undermining its authority, and sidelining African institutions in favor of unilateral decision-making. This is being reinforced, as The Guardian reports, by members of the US administration urging US diplomats to emphasize American “generosity” to African leaders even as USAID programs are shuttered and health funding withdrawn.
IMPLICATIONS: Together, these developments signal a dangerous erosion of respect for African expertise, autonomy, and ethical authority in global health. Pushing forward research designs that would withhold proven interventions—while dismissing objections from Africa CDC and African scientists—revives patterns of extractive and unethical research long condemned by the global health community. Undermining Africa CDC while advancing ethically dubious trials weakens trust, damages partnerships, and threatens progress against hepatitis B, HIV, and other diseases where Africa has led with scientific excellence.
This five-part series reflects on the tumultuous events of the past 365 days across five global health issues: the erosion of US foreign aid; dismantling of the research enterprise; attacks on vaccine policy; and shifts in the global health architecture.
As new IDSA CEO, Jeanne Marrazzo warned in a webinar this week, rising HIV infections threaten progress, but “this is not a time to despair. It’s a time to fight.” Watch the recording and explore the 2025 People’s Research Agenda, which tracks the science, flags gaps, and centers community priorities to keep HIV prevention moving forward.
