Join the CROI 2023 Conference Co-chairs, the Community Liaison Subcommittee (CLS), researchers, community educators and advocates from around the world for an informal conversation about the next CROI conference (the 30th anniversary of CROI), how advocates can optimize their engagement with CROI, and key dates and deadlines to put on your calendars. We will also share insights on the qualities that make a successful Community Scholarship application.

The 30th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), scheduled for February 19 to 22, 2023, is currently planned as an in-person conference with an option for virtual participation for most sessions. The in-person component, hosted in Seattle, Washington, US, will feature additional sessions and networking opportunities for those attending in-person. The best and most consequential original research will define the science at CROI 2023, including research in HIV, hepatitis viruses, SARS-CoV-2, monkeypox, and other viral infections and their related conditions.

Dr. James Hoxie is chair of the 2023 CROI Planning Committee, and the 2023 vice-chairs are Drs. Diane Havlir and Landon Myer. CLS members include Dawn Averitt, Ntando Yola and Jim Pickett.

Register here.

Please join us to hear the latest updates from African advocates leading the advocacy for access to the dapivrine ring. Plus tune in for the Population Council’s plans for moving the ring forward on multiple fronts, from roll-out of the monthly ring to research around the 3-month ring and multipurpose ring.

Register here.

AVAC in collaboration with the Key Population Transnational Collaboration (KP-TNC) is glad to invite you to the Trans Manifesto Roadshow Webinar. This webinar will be facilitated by Brian Minalga, Leigh Ann and Cindra of AVAC.

The webinar will disseminate a Transgender Manifesto that is written and informed by trans and gender-diverse (TGD) activists from Cape Town to Berlin, with support and solidarity from AVAC. The manifesto demonstrats that lack of transgender data in HIV research and other interventions is detrimental to HIV response in the overral exposing trans populations to greater risks. The research culminated to a Manifesto for the Transgender that requests all HIV interventions not to ignore the reality of data for the trans populations with a call of NO DATA NO MORE! Kindly download the Trans Manifesto here.

Register here.

About the Facilitators

Brian Minalga
Brian Minalga works at the intersections of HIV research, public health, and community advocacy. Brian focuses especially on representation as it relates to scientific integrity and prioritizing the communities with the greatest need. Having worked in the fields of HIV, social work, education, and dance in locations ranging from Seattle to Detroit and Namibia to Niger, Brian brings a global and interdisciplinary perspective to their work. Brian is gender nonbinary and uses any pronouns (they, she, he, etc).

Leigh-Ann van der Merwe
Leigh-Ann van der Merwe is a self-identified trans woman of colour from the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. She is the founder and director of Social, Health & Empowerment Feminist Collective of Transgender Women of Africa. Leigh-Ann is also a researcher who has published in local and international academic journals on transgender women and HIV, and trans/feminism.

Cindra Feuer
Cindra is a Senior Program Manager for Partnerships and Capacity Strengthening at AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention. She co-manages its various advocacy programs in the US, Europe and Africa. Cindra held staff positions at POZ and HIV Plus magazines, covering the pandemic both domestically and internationally. She also worked with various groups including the Lesbian Avengers and Sex Panic!, a sexual activism group dedicated to pro-queer, pro-sex worker and anti-racist campaigns for sexual freedom in the age of HIV and AIDS.

Part of a series created for COMPASS partners, this webinar includes a presentation on 2023-2028 Global Fund strategy by Lesley Odendal, a coordinator at the Global Fund working on strategies for community engagement at the regional level. Discussion is moderated by COMPASS advisor Donald Tobaiwa, and features vibrant Q and A.

View the recording.

AVAC hosted a global Zoom meeting on HIV prevention research ethics entitled: “New Ethical Guidelines for HIV prevention trials in people: What’s changed and Why Does it Matter?”

The meeting exposed advocates, CABs and community members to revised UNAIDS/WHO and HPTN Ethical Guidelines for HIV prevention research, and facilitated a discussion on some of the salient changes and their implications for HIV prevention clinical research.

Panelists included:

• Catherine Slack, PhD. Head, HIV AIDS Vaccines Ethics Group (HAVEG), University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
• Andreas Reis, MD, MSc. Co-Lead, Health Ethics & Governance Unit, WHO, Geneva
• Jeremy Sugarman, MD, MPH, MA. Professor of Bioethics and Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, US, and Chair of the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) Ethics Working Group

Session in Brief
In 2020 UNAIDS/WHO and HPTN published revised ethical guidance for HIV prevention clinical research. The revisions take into account the availability of highly effective prevention options, and seek to ingrain equity, non-discrimination, community support and social justice in prevention research.

During this session, prevention advocates engaged with bioethicists on key aspects of the revised ethical guidelines and how they will be put into practice. It built advocates’ literacy for engaging in next-generation prevention trials.

For more on the two guidelines and a comparison, see the latest AVAC Advocates’ Network announcement: Ethical Guidance In Focus

Downloads

• Webinar recording
• UNAIDS/WHO Ethical Considerations in HIV prevention trials
• HPTN Ethics Guidance for Research

The August 5 meeting was part of AVAC’s research literacy effort called the Research Engagement Series, and was the second call in the series. The first occurred on May 6, focusing on the basics of next-generation trial design.

AVAC with the Global AIDS Policy Partnership (GAPP) hosted a global Zoom webinar on HIV prevention entitled: “Innovations and Challenges of PEPFAR Prevention Programming during the COVID-19 pandemic”
The webinar opened with a presentation by staff from the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator on prevention programming, followed by a moderated panel discussion.

Speakers and Panelists

Sara Klucking, Senior Technical Adviser and Acting Director, Office of Research and Science, US Department of State, Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator and OGAC colleagues Janet Saul, Erin Eckstein and Jennifer Cole.

Panel Discussion Moderator: Keifer Buckingham, Open Society Foundations.

Panelists: Marineus Mutongore, Chair of the Key and Vulnerable Population Forum in Tanzania, Kudakwashe Murombedzi, Senior Technical Advisor for VMMC Communications on the USAID-funded EMPOWER project in Malawi and Sara Klucking, OGAC.

Webinar in Brief

The recent Global Fund Results report, as well as some early reports from PEPFAR countries, have suggested that HIV prevention activities have been more greatly affected as the COVID-19 pandemic has swept through many countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. This webinar explores how different PEPFAR prevention programs (the DREAMS program, voluntary medical male circumcision, PrEP and behavioral interventions) fared, and what innovations are being used to keep prevention on track.

Downloads

• Recording
• Slides

On September 28, IPPFWHR and AVAC partners held the webinar Advancing HIV Prevention & SRHR for Adolescent Girls and Young Women in the Time of COVID. The webinar opened with remarks from Serra Sippel, Chief Global Advocacy Officer at IPPFWHR, and included a conversation with six young women advocates from Malawi, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. The panel was moderated by Liz Ford, Deputy Editor for The Guardian‘s Global Development website. The panelists were:

• Cathering Madebe – Mulika, Tanzania
• Dr. Lilian Mwakyosi – Tayoa, Tanzania
• Mtisunge Mikaya – MANASO, Malawi
• Sekani Tchuwa – Coalition of Women Living with HIV and AIDS, Malawi/li>
• Naledi Katsande – Youth for Health Promotion, Zimbabwe
• Queen Bee Meki – Trans & Intersex Rising, Zimbabwe

The recording will be posted shortly.

New research from AVAC and partners shows promising approaches to reach adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) with comprehensive and integrated services for HIV and sexual and reproductive health (SRH), including expanding access to existing and future PrEP products. On October 14, we were joined by representatives from the Ministries of Health in Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe for this webinar to discuss findings, progress to date and context-specific realities.

Moderators

• Jessica Rodrigues, AVAC
• Sara Allinder, Georgetown University Center for Innovation in Global Health
• Anna Miti, Humanitarian Information Facilitation Centre

Speakers

• Ruth Kamau, National AIDS & STI Control Programme (NASCOP), Ministry of Health, Kenya
• Fannie Kachale, Department of Reproductive Health, Ministry of Health, Malawi
• Getrude Ncube, Department of AIDS & TB, Ministry of Health and Child Care, Zimbabwe
• Jacque Wambui, AfroCAB Treatment Access Partnership, Kenya
• Barbra Ncube, Pangaea Zimbabwe AIDS Trust (PZAT), Zimbabwe

Downloads

Recording: YouTube
Slides: Kenya / Malawi / Zimbabwe