Standard of Care in the Era of PrEP

Every research trial of a new HIV prevention option offers a package of services to protect participants from HIV. This standard of care is essential to the design of an ethical trial.

So what do we do now that oral PrEP has hit the world: It works if you take it; roll out is reaching some places and populations better than others. And people on PrEP often need support to stick with it. All this makes adding Oral PrEP a paramount question for trials. This month’s Px Pulse follows a recent summit in Cape Town South Africa where advocates, researchers and regulators confronted the high stakes of post-PrEP prevention research.

What’s the State of the Field? AVAC Report 2017

On the eve of World AIDS Day 2017, AVAC published its annual report on the state of the field. AVAC Report 2017: Mixed Messages and How to Untangle Them is a must-read for anyone tracking the progress of HIV prevention around the world. In this month’s episode of Px Pulse, AVAC’s Director of Strategy & Content Emily Bass shares highlights from the report and calls for action on the unfinished work of scaling up prevention.

2018 and HIV Prevention: AVAC’s Take

In this episode hear about recently published findings from a study out of Rakai, Uganda confirm that scaling up of a combination of existing interventions, such as voluntary medical male circumcision and antiretroviral therapy provides protection from HIV at the population-level. How do we apply these findings at the global level? How should advocates prepare for results—anticipated in 2019—of the ECHO trial that’s looking at the effect of hormonal contraceptives on HIV risk? And what needs to happen in 2018 to reach long-term global targets for ending the epidemic?

NIH-Funded HIV Trial Networks: A family tree

This graphic provides a visual history of the DAIDS Networks and a look at what’s proposed for the next funding cycle. It appears in AVAC Report 2017: Mixed messages and how to untangle them.

Total Global HIV Prevention R&D Investment by Prevention Option, 2015–2016

This graphic shows the percentage of total global investment in HIV prevention spent on different interventions in 2015 and 2016. For much more on HIV prevention research & development funding, visit www.hivresourcetracking.org.

US HIV Research: A family tree

This graphics shows a family tree representing HIV research in the United States. It appears in AVAC Report 2017: Mixed messages and how to untangle them.

The Math Behind the “Bulge”

There are many more young people today than there were 30 years ago. This has profound implications for the HIV response because young people are at the highest risk of HIV in East and Southern Africa.

This graphic explains why this youth bulge is the most important demographic issue facing HIV prevention today and why efforts to date are only barely holding the problem at bay. It appears in AVAC Report 2017: Mixed messages and how to untangle them.

Oral PrEP Uptake in the United States

This is a graph of PrEP uptake in the United States mapped with major PrEP milestones. It appears in AVAC Report 2017: Mixed messages and how to untangle them.

The South Africa PrEP Story: What “starting out” looks like

This graphic charts how many people in South Africa tested as HIV negative each month vs. how many people commenced oral PrEP from month-to-month. It appears in AVAC Report 2017: Mixed messages and how to untangle them.

Target Tracking, 2010–2020

Calculating progress toward the UNAIDS Fast Track Goals is complex but ambitious targets are the best kind. AVAC has long argued they propel action even if they aren’t met. But when it comes to achieving epidemic control, progress must be properly calculated, and can never be confused with success. This graphic appears in AVAC Report 2017: Mixed messages and how to untangle them.