From Courtrooms to Communities: Funding Advocacy to Protect HIV Responses
Please note: registration is limited to representatives of funding and philanthropy serving organizations.
Advocacy is one of the most underfunded areas of HIV philanthropy—yet essential to defending rights and sustaining progress.
Join Funders Concerned About AIDS (FCAA) on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, from 10:00–11:30 AM EST for From Courtrooms to Communities: Funding Advocacy to Protect HIV Responses.
Moderator
Marvell L. Terry II, Funders Concerned About AIDS (FCAA)
Featured Speakers
S. Mandisa Moore O’Neal, Center for HIV Law & Policy (CHLP)
Mitchell Warren, AVAC
Edwin J. Bernard, HIV Justice Network
Together, they will explore how shifting legal and policy environments are shaping HIV responses, why bold and intersectional advocacy strategies matter, and where philanthropy can make catalytic investments to protect and advance progress.
Avac Event
We Declare—Turning “The People’s Declaration” Demands into Actions and Accountability on HIV
The People’s Declaration—currently with over 500 signatories, charts out a number of community priorities and demands—as noted below. The Choice Agenda, The Legacy Project, and a fabulous global panel discussed moving these demands into actions and accountability.
To date, the discourse surrounding these actions has focused largely on the devastation to grants, dollars, and institutions. Here, we center people instead—the communities who stand to suffer the harshest consequences of these actions. Here, we remind the world that the first letter in HIV stands for human.
We demand substantive, meaningful inclusion of community in every aspect of HIV research, from protocol development to study implementation to the dissemination of clinical trial results.
We demand diversity, equity, and inclusion amongst the scientific teams conducting HIV research.
We demand diversity, equity, and inclusion across all community stakeholder engagement activities.
We demand diversity, equity, and inclusion in the recruitment of clinical trial participants who accurately reflect the epidemic.
Brian Minalga, Office of HIV/AIDS Network Coordination (HANC)
Panelists
Adrian Williams, AW DEI Consulting Inc
Brian Macharia, Health GAP
JD Davids, JD Strategies, Patient Led Research Collaborative
Luciana Kamel, HIV Community Advocate, Brazil
Moses Supercharger, Joint Adherent Brothers and Sisters Against AIDS, Uganda
Rebecca Denison, Advocate, USA
Avac Event
Do Not Check That Box – Impacts From the Assault on Transgender Communities and DEI + Strategies to Sustain and Rebuild
Our panelists had an unflinchingly honest—and interactive—conversation assessing the impacts of the ongoing assault on transgender communities, gender affirming health care, data collection, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion writ large. Strategies to restore trust, sustain programming, and rebuild from the ashes were explored.
Panelists:
Dr. Joseph Cherabie Washington University St. Louis
Dr. Melanie Thompson AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta
Dr. Asa Radix New York City
Leigh-Ann van der Merwe Social, Health & Empowerment Feminist Collective, South Africa
PEPFAR launched its “Bridge Planning” process on September 5, with country plans due September 25 and approval by September 30. This fast timeline risks excluding community and civil society voices, despite their critical role in shaping effective, sustainable HIV responses. Reports indicate limited to no community participation in many African partner countries, undermining rights-based, participatory planning.
Eannaso is hosting this emergency webinar to convene stakeholders to strategize collective advocacy for meaningful civil society engagement in this urgent process.
Avac Event
Will Lenacapavir be a Lever or a Let-Down? Lessons, Resources and Considerations for Implementation in the United States
Approved in July, lenacapavir for PrEP has tremendous potential to increase access and engagement in the United States, reaching individuals who have been unable to embrace PrEP in its previous formulations. The Choice Agenda and the HIV BLUPrInt team for a deep dive into rolling out lenacapavir (Yeztugo) in the US. Speakers summarized lessons, previewed existing resources, and called for expanded research and practice models that use lenacapavir as a lever to increase HIV prevention access, empowerment, and reach.
Over the past four decades, HIV research has saved tens of millions of lives through discoveries in HIV treatment and prevention, with the US federal government playing a foundational role in that success. Unprecedented assaults on science and research and the systematic dismantling of federal institutions over the past months risk those accomplishments. These unparalleled budget cuts and project terminations will set the HIV/AIDS response back years, if not decades.
It’s not too late to change that! The commitment and actions of the scientific and advocacy community have been successful in reversing some of these funding decisions and we need to keep up the pressure.
Join us on September 16 starting at 11:00 ET as scientists, researchers, and advocates from around the world describe what has been achieved through decades of federal investments and what we stand to lose. Don’t miss the opportunity to come together in community as we share insights, answer questions, and inspire action.
Avac Event
20th European AIDS Conference (EACS 2025)
The European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS) invites you to join the 20th European Conference that will take place in the Palais des Congrès in Paris, France. It will be an unforgettable conference with great keynote and plenary lectures. The EACS Conference will be a hub for clinicians, researchers, community and activists. Presented live by experts, you will be introduced to innovations and topics at the forefront of HIV medicine.
International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP 2025)
Since its inaugural convening in Kampala, Uganda in 2009, the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) has grown into more than just a conference. It has become a global community, a dynamic movement, and a trusted digital platform advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for all.
ICFP brings together researchers, governments, advocates, health equity champions, and local communities to celebrate progress, pledge new commitments, and chart the way forward. Rooted in collaboration, inclusivity, innovation, and scientific integrity, it serves as a strategic inflection point for advancing universal access to family planning and reproductive health.
The ICFP 2025 theme, “Equity Through Action: Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for All,” reflects the urgency of addressing systemic inequities through innovative solutions and concrete commitments. Participants will have access to a wide range of sessions—from plenaries, panel discussions, and debates to workshops, side events, and networking opportunities—all designed to spark dialogue, strengthen partnerships, and inspire action.
International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA 2025)
As seismic shifts in global health funding and strategy unfold, the 2025 International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA), happening December 3–8 in Accra, Ghana, comes at a pivotal time. For more than three decades, ICASA has served as a critical platform founded by African scientists, activists, and advocates to fight stigma, drive research, and elevate African leadership in the HIV response. This year, this mission is more urgent than ever.
AVAC and partners will be in Accra to meet this moment. On December 2, we are joining partners to co-host the 8th Biomedical HIV Prevention Forum (BHPF), an official ICASA pre-conference with the theme Advancing Biomedical HIV Prevention as a National Priority Through Choice.
This forum will bring together prevention champions; advocates, civil society representatives, researchers, youth leaders, development partners, and government officials from the Ministries of Health and Finance and ensure that the promise of biomedical prevention is fully realized.
If you are in Accra, be sure to join the many satellite sessions in which AVAC and partners are involved.
Wednesday, December 3
Future Proofing Person Centered HIV Care: Ensuring Appropriate Integration for and with Key Populations, hosted by the International AIDS Society, 17:45-18:30
Thursday, December 4
Launch of The Lancet HIV & The Lancet Global Health Joint Series on Sustainable HIV Prevention in Africa, hosted by the Government of Malawi, Malawi’s National AIDS Commission, the African-led HIV Control Working Group (HCWG), and Georgetown University’s Center for Innovation in Global Health; learn more,10:50-11:35
Saturday, December 6
Why CHOICE Matters in Ensuring an Integrated, Sustainable Response to HIV, hosted by the African Women Prevention Community Accountability Board (AWPCAB) and African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA) in partnership with ViiV Healthcare, 13:10-13:55
Innovating to Scale PrEP in a New Reality: Country-Led Strategies for Sustainability, Local Ownership, and Impact, hosted by AVAC and the Coalition to Accelerate Access to Long-Acting PrEP; download flyer, 14:05-14:50
Sunday, December 7
Introduction of Lenacapavir, Lessons Learned from Early Implementation in Africa, 8:45-9:30
Voices and Partnerships to Advance Health Innovation and Equity, hosted by Unitaid, 13:10-13:55
Community Booth
AVAC and partners will “takeover” the Unitaid Community Booth on Friday, 5 December between 9:30 and 13:30, and on Sunday, 7 December between 12:00 to 16:00 to feature programming that brings together advocates and community members with other key stakeholders to discuss LEN for PrEP rollout, emphasize prevention as sustainability, and advance youth leadership. Be sure to visit the UNITAID booth on Friday, 5 December between 9:30 and 13:30 to secure a schedule of the program and join the conversations.
As conversations unfold at ICASA, two urgent imperatives must anchor our collective advocacy: accelerating equitable access to approved HIV prevention options and sustaining a forward-looking research agenda that responds to community priorities and drives long-term impact. In the face of historic US funding cuts and a shifting global health architecture, these goals are more essential than ever.
The People’s Research Agenda (PRA), which is being updated for ICASA, is a vital tool for shaping and demanding the HIV prevention research the world needs. Whether you’re participating in the Biomedical HIV Prevention Forum or broader ICASA conversations, we encourage you to look out for the updated PRA and use it to frame your priorities, raise your voice, and influence what comes next.
