The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the research process. Sponsors, researchers, ethics committee members and other stakeholders are moving faster than ever to move effective products through the research pipeline. The pace of the research is also changing how stakeholder engagement is conducted. On Tuesday, June 9, speakers discussed the experience of conducting stakeholder engagement during the Ebola crisis in West Africa. They also explored some of the ethical challenges to conducting research in a public health emergency.
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Conducting Community Engagement During a Public Health Emergency: Lessons learnt from the Ebola response
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Good Participatory Practice (GPP) Online Training
This 10-week interactive and online course will help researchers and clinical trial stakeholder to apply the Good Participatory Practice (GPP) Guidelines in their unique settings. In this unprecedented time, sustaining effective partnerships is more crucial than ever before. This course provides a personalized learning experience, global knowledge, tools to advance GPP implementation in diverse contexts and access to GPP experts and professional networks. For more information, send an email to [email protected].
Enroll now at engage.avac.org.
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Webinar: HPTN 083 Primary Study Results
The HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) held a community webinar, on July 16, to present the primary results of HPTN 083, a global randomized, controlled, double-blinded study that compared the safety and efficacy of long-acting injectable cabotegravir (CAB LA) to daily oral tenofovir/emtricitabine (TDF/FTC) (Truvada) for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). The study showed that a PrEP regimen containing CAB LA was superior to oral TDF/FTC for the prevention of HIV acquisition among cisgender men and transgender women who have sex with men.
Host: Melissa Turner, HPTN Community Working Group Chair
Moderator: Mitchell Warren, Executive Director, AVAC
Panelists:
- HPTN 083 Protocol Chair – Dr. Raphael Landovitz, UCLA Center for Clinical AIDS Research and Education (CARE)
- HPTN 083 Protocol Co-Chair – Dr. Beatriz Grinsztejn, National Institute of Infectious Diseases Evandro Chagas-
Additional panelists avialbe for questions and answer session:
- HPTN 084 Protocol Chair – Dr. Sinead Delany-Moretlwe, Wits RHI, University of Witwatersrand
- HPTN 084 Protocol Co-Chair – Dr. Mina Hosseinipour, UNC Project Lilongwe
- Head of Research & Development, ViiV Healthcare – Dr. Kimberly Smith
- Senior Director, Global HIV Prevention Strategy, ViiV Healthcare – Dr. Alex Rinehart
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World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day takes place on 1 December every year. It’s an opportunity for everyone to support people living with HIV/AIDS, commemorate those we have lost, take stock of the tireless work being done worldwide and re-energize advocacy efforts to end the epidemic.
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HIV Research for Prevention (HIV R4P): Virtual
Taking place from January 27-8 and February 3-4, 2020, HIV Research for Prevention (HIV R4P): Virtual fosters interdisciplinary knowledge-exchange on HIV vaccines, microbicides, PrEP, treatment as prevention and biomedical interventions as well as their related social and behavioural implications. The great strength of HIVR4P is the participation of researchers, policy makers, implementers and advocates working across the spectrum of biomedical interventions and scientific disciplines informing state-of-the-art HIV prevention from pre-clinical research through to implementation.
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One Year After ECHO – Integrating health services in the time of COVID
On July 30, FP2020 and AVAC had a webinar on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) integration: One Year After ECHO: Integration in the Time of COVID. This discussion focused on gains made in the year following the ECHO trial results; how COVID-19 has had an impact on HIV and SRH services and efforts to integrate them; and what the future of HIV/SRH integration can and should look like.
Also, follow our One/One/One campaign here and see what the experts are saying about #SRHintegration.
Panelists:
- Dr. Rachel Baggaley, World Health Organization (WHO), Geneva
- Dr. Nyaradzo Mgodi, University of Zimbabwe-University of California, San Francisco (UZ-UCSF), Zimbabwe
- Wame Jallow, International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC), Botswana
- Dr. Natasha Salifyanji Kaoma, CopperRose, Zambia
Moderated by:
- Beth Schlachter, Executive Director of FP2020
- Mitchell Warren, Executive Director of AVAC
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Good COPs or Bad COPs 2.0: Advocacy to Ensure the Prioritization of TB in 2019 PEPFAR Country Operational Plans (COPs)
Back by popular demand! As tuberculosis (TB) is the leading global killer of people living with HIV, TB programming must be prioritized and integrated within life-saving bilateral efforts such as PEPFAR. The expected release of the PEPFAR Country Operational Plans (COPs) provides a critical opportunity for advocates to ensure that the latest developments in TB treatment, prevention and diagnostics are implemented within PEPFAR countries.
Join Treatment Action Group, AVAC, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Health GAP, IMPAACT4TB, and RESULTS on Wednesday, January 23, 9-11am ET, for a webinar on how to strategize and engage in PEPFAR COPs planning to address and strengthen our global response to TB through PEPFAR, and introduce tools to galvanize advocacy efforts.
Panel includes:
- Albert Makone, Public Health Consultant and Health Activist
- Lynette Mabote, Health Activist and Consultant
- Martina Casenghi, CaP TB Project Technical Director, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
Moderator:
- Lotti Rutter, Associate Director, International Policy and Advocacy, Health GAP
This webinar is free and open to the public, register by clicking here.
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Driving Demand for PrEP: Learn How to Use the PrEP Communications Accelerator
On February 20, 2019, the OPTIONS Consortium presented a webinar on the PrEP Communications Accelerator—an interactive tool that assists in the development of a demand creation campaign strategy to promote PrEP uptake among target audiences in sub-Saharan Africa. This webinar covered:
- The role of demand creation strategies to drive PrEP uptake
- An introduction to the PrEP Communications Accelerator
- Examples of how the PrEP Communications Accelerator is applied
- Q&A and Discussion
Presenters
- Elmari Briedenhann, Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute, OPTIONS Consortium Member
- Briana Ferrigno, McCann Global Health, OPTIONS Consortium Member
You can watch a recording of the webinar here.
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Expanding Choices: A look into the Population Council’s Multipurpose Prevention Technology (MPT) Product Pipeline
On Tuesday, February 26, The Population Council, IRMA and AVAC presented a webinar to learn how user choice and control inform the Council’s MPT product development strategy.
Speakers:
- Tom Zydowsky, PhD; Senior Scientist, Director of Biomedical Research & Pharmaceutical Development, Center for Biomedical Research
- Barbara Friedland, MPH; Associate II, Clinical Project Manager, Center for Biomedical Research
Moderator:
- Jim Pickett, IRMA
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Hormonal Contraception and HIV Risk: Understanding the ECHO trial
The Evidence for Contraceptive Options and HIV Outcomes (ECHO) Study is an open-label, randomized, clinical trial comparing three highly effective, reversible methods of contraception — the progestogen-only injectable depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA), a levonorgestrel implant, and the non-hormonal copper intrauterine device — to evaluate whether there is any difference in the risk of acquiring HIV infection among users of these methods.
Results, expected in mid-2019, will help guide the implementation of safe, effective policies and services that will enable women at high risk of HIV to make fully informed choices about contraception and HIV prevention.
The webinar featured:
- Beth Schlachter, Executive Director, FP2020
- Dr. Jared Baeten, Vice Chair, Department of Global Health, University of Washington, ECHO Consortium
- Dr. Nelly Mugo, Research Associate Professor, Global Health, University of Washington, ECHO Management Committee
- Tamar Abrams, Communications Director, FP2020
You can view the webinar recording below.