New Resources & Upcoming Webinars 

Ahead of World AIDS Day, Mitchell Warren spoke with POZ Magazine for a comprehensive look at where we are in the fight against HIV/AIDS and what advocacy and scientific breakthroughs are needed in ending the epidemic. “I think a lot about the progress we’ve achieved in providing ARVs worldwide, about what the global HIV response contributed to the COVID-19 response and continues to contribute to current conversations about preparing for future pandemics. It’s remarkable... And yet that progress has not been equitable and is not yet sustainable. What we’ve achieved today could slip away so quickly...” 

The newest episode of our PxPulse podcast is out now! In this episode, experts discuss why pregnant and lactating people have been excluded from HIV research in the past, and what needs to change. The podcast features Anne Drapkin Lyerly of the PHASES Project, a participant from the HPTN 084 trial in Zimbabwe, Ashley Lima of USAID, Takunda Sola of the Zimbabwe MoH AIDS/TB Unit and AVAC’s Manju Chantani-Gada and Jeanne Baron. 

Advances in HIV prevention represent a huge opportunity to help get actual prevention choices into the hands of people. Listen to this podcast with Bhekisisa’s Mia Malan and in conversation with Mitchell Warren as they breakdown the complexity of issues in getting cabotegravir for PrEP available to those who want and need it as fast as possible. 

AVAC, NACCHO and NNPTC also hosted a webinar on the increasing rates of Syphilis rates to share learnings on how others are addressing these rising rates and the techniques clinicians are using to detect, treat, and prevent infections. 

Earlier this year, AVAC awarded seven teams funding to conduct projects in Southern and Eastern Africa to help understand the needs and evolving landscape around STI vaccines, diagnostics, and advocacy. These teams shared their findings and insights on two webinars that are not to be missed. Be sure to listen to the recordings, and to stay up to date with other STI events and resources by subscribing to our newsletter and visiting www.stiwatch.org.  

Multipurpose prevention technologies (MPTs) combining contraception with HIV prevention offer promising solutions to the challenges of adherence and uptake we’ve seen with oral PrEP. This new manuscript published in Frontiers in Reproductive Health by AVAC’s Wawira Nyagah, Kate Segal and partners shares findings to support a demand generation approach for the DPP (Dual Prevention Pill).

The reauthorization of PEPFAR—a program that just surpassed 20 years, has been a hot button topic both in the US and abroad. Listen to Practicality Over Panic: What Happens if PEPFAR is not Reauthorized, a candid discussion hosted by the Global Health Council and Global AIDS Policy Partnership and including AVAC’s Richard Muko on where things are at. And don’t miss AVAC’s Px Pulse podcast episode, PEPFAR at 20: Keeping the promise , which explores important successes of PEPFAR and why the bipartisan program has been so fundamental in ending the epidemic.  

Ahead of the HIVR4P conference in 2024, and the 5th HIV Research for Prevention Conference, experts previewed some of the HIV prevention science to expect at these meetings. Be sure to check out the recordings on three important topics: Implementation and rolling out of CAB-LA; Insights into HIV vaccine research; and the future of bNAbs. 

Negotiations around the Pandemic Accord are ongoing. Join us November 21 as we explore what's in the Accord, what are the stakes, how can civil society engage, how will it affect our work. And to help make sense of it all, read the analysis by the Coalition of Advocates for Global Health and Pandemic Response, which is a compilation of recommendations from civil society and community organisations on the draft Negotiating Text of the WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.