The 5th HIV Research for Prevention (R4P) conferenceis being held in Lima, Peru from 6 to 10 October. Held every two years, HIVR4P is the only global conference to focused exclusively on biomedical HIV prevention, including AIDS vaccines, microbicides, PrEP, treatment as prevention and other approaches.
See below for conference highlights, recaps and announcements.
Join Copper Rose Zambia, as a part of CASPR, for a webinar, The Road Ahead – SRH Integration Advocacy. The webinar will launch the SRH Integration Advocacy Roadmap, and feature healthcare providers, advocates, and more to discuss the future of sexual and reproductive health integration.
Avac Event
Integrating HIV and PrEP Services in US Correctional Facilities
This webinar explored the integration of HIV prevention and PrEP services in diverse US correctional settings and during the critical period following release. It also highlighted innovative HIV status-neutral approaches, fostering holistic and comprehensive HIV care, treatment, and prevention services in these settings.
Presenters:
Jeannette Webb, BS, University of Chicago
Russell Brewer, DrPH, University of Chicago
Chad Zawitz, MD, Cook County Health, Chicago
Gjvar Payne, Capitol Area Reentry Program, Baton Rouge
Louise Bienvenu, JD, Frontline Legal Services, New Orleans
This is a UNGA side event at Yale Club of New York City, 50 Vanderbilt Ave, New York, NY 10017
At this year’s UN General Assembly, policymakers, advocates, diplomats, and practitioners will convene a High Level Meeting (HLM) on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). As new global commitments are made by state actors, Management Sciences for Health (MSH) will convene a group of experts to illustrate the importance of supply chains and strong health systems in combating AMR.
Through a panel discussion featuring practitioners, health workers, and advocates, MSH and partners will explore the role of supply chains, laboratory capacity, health facilities and other foundational aspects of health systems in meeting the increasingly complex challenge of AMR.
Topics discussed may include (but are not limited to): the importance of supply chains and regulatory systems in addressing AMR and supplying critical medicines, the critical role of laboratories, microbiology services and diagnostic tools, the importance of adequate water and sanitation in health facilities, and the role of healthcare workers in remaining combating and monitoring AMR.
MSH hopes that this discussion will “make real” the challenges and opportunities presented by this year’s HLM and provide real-world examples of how to address the growing threat of AMR.
Speakers:
Opening remarks: Marian Wentworth, President and CEO, Management Sciences for Health
Keynote introduction: Côte d’Ivoire Minister of Health Pierre Dimba
Scene Setting Remarks: Dr. Mirfin Mpundu, Senior Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and Biodefense Advisor, Emerging Threats Division of the Office of Infectious Diseases, Bureau for Global Health, USAID
Panelist: Francis Aboagye-Nyame, Project Director, MTaPS project, Management Sciences for Health
Panelist: Patrick Mubangizi, Africa Director, Fleming Fund, Mott MacDonald
Panelist: Dr. Caline S. Mattar, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of Global Health
Scholars Pathway in Internal Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine
Panelist: Josette Vignon, Madagascar Country Director, WaterAid
Closing Remarks: Dr. Jide Idris, MBBS, MD, MPH, Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention
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Breaking New Ground: Expanding Access to Lenacapavir—Lessons from Dolutegravir and the Future of HIV Prevention
This UAN Call, titled Breaking New Ground: Expanding Access to Lenacapavir—Lessons from Dolutegravir and the Future of HIV Prevention, brought together global health experts, community advocates, and civil society organizations to discuss the challenges and opportunities in ensuring equitable access to Lenacapavir.
This webinar was hosted by Unitaid.
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Restrategizing Civil Society Engagement for Pandemic and Global Governance
As we are building back from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, current and future generations face multiple grand-scale challenges, including the climate crisis, related disasters, pollution, and biodiversity loss. These challenges also heighten the threat of future pandemics from emerging or re-emerging diseases. On the 14th of August 2024, the WHO has declared the Mpox outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR), which highlighted the growing concerns.
The recent amendments to the IHR (2005), agreed upon during the 77th World Health Assembly, are pivotal in enhancing global health regulations. These amendments aim to address the shortcomings revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Fundamental changes include a broadened definition of pandemic emergencies, principles of solidarity and equality, and reinforced WHO authority.
We aim to draw lessons from the successful experiences of diverse CSOs in enhancing inclusivity in multilateral discussions and implementation of agreements/treaties on topics such as one health, other health issues, climate, human rights, and more. For example, the processes leading to the Paris Agreement have set important precedents for integrating diverse voices and ensuring meaningful participation in global decision-making. Indigenous groups have also been involved in the inception to implementation processes of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
This side event aims to serve as a consolidation platform for civil society to share and find strategies that redefine civil society roles in global decision-making processes that address health threats such as future pandemics, climate crises, and others.
Objectives
The side event will reassess the strategies utilized to expand the role and involvement of civil society in global governance for health, climate, and other development sectors. The event’s objectives are further detailed in the following:
To explore and develop concrete strategies that enhance participatory, inclusive global governance for health, climate, human rights and other global challenges, starting from the Pandemic Agreement through meaningful civil society engagement, particularly in the face of shrinking civic spaces.
To foster collaborations among CSOs from multiple sectors to advance health and health-related development agendas.
Moderator:
Samantha Rick, Multilateral Engagement and Pandemic Preparedness Advocacy Specialist, AVAC
Speakers:
Eloise Todd, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Pandemic Action Network
Lawrence O. Gostin, Faculty Director O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law
Neil Vora, Executive Director of Preventing Pandemics at the Source
Olivia Herlinda, Chief Research and Policy at CISDI
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Sustainability of the HIV/AIDS Response – Getting to 2030 & Beyond
The state of the HIV/AIDs endemic is reaching a critical point requiring evaluation of the current state of the global response, progress made thus far, and planning for post-2030 goals. The National Academy of Medicine is hosting a timely international meeting to facilitate discussion on these issues.
This one-day workshop is being held on September 18, 2024, from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM US Eastern. Ambassador John N. Nkengasong, the Senior Bureau Official for Global Health Security and Diplomacy at the US State Department, will deliver the opening remarks. His address will set the stage for discussions across three subsequent panels.
Broadly, the goals of this workshop are to:
Explore how we can re-energize the global HIV response to reach the 2030 goals but also to look beyond.
Craft strategies to increase and sustain political commitment.
Highlight global accountability and domestic-donor financing.
AGENDA HIGHLIGHTS:
Introduction and Welcome
Victor Dzau,National Academy of Medicine
Carlos del Rio,Emory University and National Academy of Medicine
A summary of response since the setting of the 2030 agenda – successes, shortfalls, areas to evolve – and discussion of how to build upon momentum to design impactful, sustained response post-2030.
Sustaining Political Commitment to Ending HIV as a Public Health Threat
Discussion of how to sustain and increase global political support for prioritizing the HIV response to end the epidemic and sustain support post 2030.
Global Accountability: Domestic and Donor Support
A conversation on strategies to garner joint accountability as well as domestic and donor support for current and future financing of the HIV response.
Avac Event
Do Vaginas Demand Perfection? Implications for Event-Driven PrEP
Dr. Jenell Stewart (University of Minnesota, Hennepin Healthcare) joined The Choice Agenda to discuss and analyze recent research on HIV PrEP and implications for event driven PrEP across sex and gender.
Akiko Iwasaki, PhD, a professor of immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, turned her focus to SARS-CoV-2 soon after reading the first reports coming out of China, before COVID-19 surfaced in the United States. Though she has long been recognized for her work within the scientific community, her work around COVID-19 has raised her media profile considerably. She is frequently quoted by newspapers and reporters, and has amassed a huge Twitter following of people seeking out her research updates. (Iwasaki believes that public education is a key ingredient for slowing the spread of the virus.)
This webinar featured speakers from around the world with experience implementing GPP at research sites, within networks, and at the sponsorship level.
They illustrated how GPP can expand beyond the more familiar (but always reliable) CABs and town hall meetings to newer ideas like partnership-based approaches, the creation of a community scorecard, and more.
Moderator and Presenter:
Ntando Yola, Desmond Tutu Health Foundation
Presenters:
Sarah Read, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
