AVAC

Access to strategic information is often key -> This poster from colleagues at AVAC and Medicines Patent Pool presents two resources providing insights into #PrEP #clinical #research, #development, #access, and #uptake !

Did you know pregnant women have a higher chance of getting HIV than the general population? Biological changes make it easier for #HIV to enter their cells and they also use condoms less often during sex than women who aren’t pregnant. That’s why the Department of Health South Africaoffers the anti-HIV pill at government antenatal clinics. And we’re not doing too badly with uptake. Find out more. https://lnkd.in/dRe5mxuk 

Almost 40% of the world’s anti-HIV pill users live in South Africa, making our programme the world’s largest. In our country, 1.65-million people have used the pill, which needs to be taken daily, at least once. Find out more.https://https://lnkd.in/dRe5mxuk 

The message is clear. Make HIV prevention about you. Be selfish and say this is about me. #DayoftheGirlchild.

Excited about this opportunity to work with this amazing group to help address critical gaps in health systems and ensure healthcare delivery is grounded in health equity.

Participating in the International AIDS Society's #HIVR4P2024 Journalism Fellowship was a blast. A few people suggested I was "too advanced" for this opportunity. To them, I say, "There is always something to learn & I've learned much in Lima." Biggest lessons: 1. My job is to write for the community―not experts. 2. It is always possible to simplify the message so that even more people can understand it. 3. Lucidity over style is the future.

Community perspective on #hiv #vaccine and #bnAbs research. Delighted to see that communities are thinking about a TPP, and still believe a vaccine is needed. #hivr4p

Multi-purpose prevention technologies are coming. Are we ready for them? Sharing insights from our acceptability studies in Zimbabwe and South Africa at today’s session at #HIVR4P2024 — Delivering on the promise: Defining optimal implementation strategies and service delivery packages for the Dual Prevention Pill Come hear more about this work: https://lnkd.in/eCbrJNCQ Population Council Wits RHI University Of Zimbabwe Clinical research Centre

#PangaeaZimbabwe live in #Lima, Peru We're proud to announce that our Senior Technical Advisor, Dr. Joseph Murungu and Program Quality Coordinator, Barbra Ncube, presented at the #HIVR4P2024 conference. Dr Murungu’s poster was titled, “Optimizing the delivery of PrEP choice through a multi-country quality improvement collaborative approach”. Through the CATALYST study’s multi-country Quality Improvement Collaborative, the goal is to improve access to PrEP options and enhancing client experiences across Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, South Africa, and Lesotho to empower women to make informed choices about their health.   Barbra Ncube’s poster was titled, “The COMPASS Coalition Health Score Card: a tool for building and sustaining a robust transnational civil society coalition to strengthen the HIV response in Africa” at the #HIVR4P Conference. This innovative tool helps build and sustain strong civil society collaborations, ensuring working together effectively to strengthen the HIV response in Africa. Through shared learning and strategic action, the goal is to transform partnerships across the Global North and South! International AIDS Society MOSAIC Consortium AVAC Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

At HIV R4P I hope we heed the call that it cannot continue, something has to change for Girls and women. some of my Remarks from the two panels I was part of .. We need to prioritize HIV prevention as much as we prioritize treatment from a political perspective. There is no magic wand that is going to help and we need to change the mentality that there is a one-size-fits-all all solution for women. We need to have options that meet the needs of all women so they can make decisions to prevent themselves from getting HIV.  We need to ensure there is education in curricula, starting as early as 13 years old, for young girls so they can take control over their health. We need to make HIV prevention sexy for women – to make it cool and make it a part of our lifestyle. We’ve seen how the MSM uptake to PrEP was high because it was cool and it was not stigmatized. Women struggle with that. We tend to use HIV prevention for the population, for our partners, and for everyone but ourselves. We need to get to a point where women are selfish and say, “I want to protect myself from getting HIV for me, not for anyone else, I want to grow up healthy women’. So we need to focus on HIV prevention for these women. We want to CenterHER but she needs to start Centering HERSELF. We need to understand that young people will never be as afraid of HIV as we were. They will never experience their friends losing weight and getting sick like our generation did. The younger generation must include HIV prevention as a part of their conversations and education. To the young people – your challenge is to make sure HIV prevention becomes a reality.  The power is in your hands to prevent HIV – your revolution is the PREVOLUTION. I am an HIV prevention advocate because I know that we must prevent other women from going through what I have been through, especially young women. HIV prevention needs to be elevated to the priority that treatment has been given.  Society has a responsibility to protect women, especially young women. We need to create safe spaces for women and make them aware of HIV prevention so that they can take control of their health from a young age. We need a de-medicalized model to access PrEP, government funding and access for women, and different modalities that fit within people’s lifestyles.  We all share the responsibility to center women, prioritize their needs, and make sure appropriate options are made available around HIV prevention.  And finally, we all need to continue to advocate. For ourselves, for each other, for those around us; to use our voices to drive change until we get to where we need to be.  Leonard Solai Mitchell Warren Shaun Mellors Moupali Das Sinazo Pato Ida Jooste Idah Mulala Chilufya K. Linda-Gail Bekker International AIDS Society Kanya Ndaki South African Health Technologies Advocacy Coalition (SAHTAC) Winnie Byanyima