This presentation, delivered by AVAC’s Executive Director, Mitchell Warren at IAS 2025, shares a sobering picture of the sweeping changes to science, global health and particularly, HIV R&D since January 20, 2025. It outlines the impact of foreign aid cuts, NIH grant terminations, and policy shifts and shares a vision for the future.
HIV Research on Pause
Impacts of US government cuts on HIV R&D
Designing for the Future
Community perspectives for HIV prevention trials
Presented by AVAC’s Regional Program Manager for Research Engagement Grace Kumwenda at IAS 2025, this presentation summarizes community demands that future HIV prevention trials be ethical, acceptable, inclusive, feasible, and efficient.
Advocates’ Guide to Lenacapavir
Trial results and steps toward ensuring access
This wide-ranging slide deck gives a complete overview of lenacapavir — showing the overall prevention product pipeline, describes lenacapavir, compares it to other options, discusses the trials testing the product, next steps, and links to advocacy resources.
HIV Prevention R&D at Risk
Tracking the Impact of US Funding Cuts
The US presidential administration is actively working to dismantle HIV research and demolish the architecture of global health. The entire HIV response — from basic research and clinical development to policy, programs, and global access to life-saving treatment and prevention — is now under attack, and the world runs the risk of reversing the strides made to end HIV.
AVAC has put together this report, highlighting the impact of US cuts on the pipeline of HIV prevention research and development. AVAC will continue to track these cuts and their impact, to amplify the damage they will cause, and to fight for their reversal.
Why HIV Prevention Must Not Be Left Behind
In this presentation at the INTEREST 2025 conference, Rhoda Msiska of Copper Rose Zambia emphasizes the urgency of protecting the progress made in scaling up PrEP and the need to act now to expand access to new HIV prevention tools like injectable lenacapavir (LEN) and the Dual Prevention Pill (DPP).
Novel Study Designs for New HIV Prevention Products
A presentation by Deborah Donnell, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center University of Washington, discussing trial design when PrEP is available. How can the field justify randomization to an experimental drug when we have something known to work? If we give study participants PrEP, how can we know a new experimental drug is working?
Politics and Global Health: The Need for a New, Resilient Architecture
Recent, dramatic shifts in global health funding include cuts to US and UK foreign aid. This has had a cascade of devastating consequences on treatment and prevention programmes, including for HIV and TB across the globe. In a lecture at Oxford University, AVAC Executive Director Mitchell Warren provided updates on AVAC’s court challenge against the Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID and offer his insights into what a more resilient global health funding infrastructure could look like. Slides are available.
Impact of PEPFAR’s Stop Work Order on PrEP
The impact of the stop-work order on PrEP is expected to be severe. In a set of slides and on our website, PrEPWatch, we have posted the results of an analysis drawing on key informant interviews with representatives of Ministries of Health and PrEP implementers between 27 January 2025, when stop-work orders were issued by the US government, and the end of February 2025, when the vast majority of USAID-funded projects received official termination notices. Find the latest here.
Clinical Trial Designs in HIV Prevention
An introductory slide deck covering the basics of trial design in product development — definitions, phases, randomized control trials, and more.
Diversity, Equity and Access to HIV Research
On May 2, 2024, AVAC staffer Jessica Salzwedel gave a presentation on diversity, equity and access in HIV research at the Ending the HIV Epidemic Conference at Weill Cornell Medicine. Check out the full presentation in PDF format.
“When we think about what engagement is important for research, it involves building systems of trust.” – Jessica Salzwedel