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The funding crisis reshaping global health has hit HIV prevention particularly hard. At the same time, science is handing us some of the most powerful HIV prevention tools we have ever had – long-acting injectables like lenacapavir and cabotegravir, and a monthly oral pill on the horizon.
But science alone does not deliver prevention. That takes systems, policy, funding and a trained healthcare workforce. It takes communities leading in planning, implementation and holding the HIV response to account.
This episode of HIV unmuted is a curtain raiser for AIDS 2026, the 26th International AIDS Conference, taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and virtually. The theme of the conference, Rethink. Rebuild. Rise., is also the spirit of this episode. We look at what rethinking prevention means in people's lives, what it will take to rebuild the systems and political will to deliver innovation at scale, and how the global HIV response can rise to this moment.
Meet our guest
Axel Bautista
Axel Bautista is the Community Engagement Manager at MPact Global Action. He was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico, which is where he currently lives. He studied sociology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and has been working in the HIV field since 2016, with a focus on human rights, healthcare access, community building and empowerment, activism and social media content. As part of MPact, he has led community projects across Latin America and the USA, addressing and advocating for the queer people living with HIV. He has had the opportunities to engage with UNAIDS and WHO as a community advocate and has helped establish networks of queer activists living with HIV activists in Mexico.
Nomathemba Chandiwana
Nomathemba Chandiwana is Chief Scientific Officer at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation in Cape Town. As a clinician-scientist, her work examines the metabolic and ageing-related intersections of HIV and non-communicable diseases, with a focus on obesity, cardiometabolic health, sleep and ageing among women and adolescents in high HIV-burden settings. Her research spans clinical trials and implementation science, including the evaluation and delivery of new HIV prevention technologies, such as long-acting PrEP, and the equitable introduction of GLP-1 receptor agonists for obesity. She serves on South Africa’s PrEP National Technical Working Group, the UN NCD Task Force and the Global Obesity Technical Working Group, contributing to evidence-based, equity-focused policies for integrated models of care.
Beatriz Grinsztejn
Beatriz Grinsztejn is an infectious disease physician-researcher who has dedicated her career to HIV and AIDS care and research. With colleagues, she established the Fiocruz HIV/AIDS Service, which is the largest care provider in Rio de Janeiro. Since 1999, she has served as Director of the HIV/AIDS Clinical Research Unit at the Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases – FIOCRUZ in Rio de Janeiro. Beatriz has also been the principal investigator for a clinical trials unit for the past 13 years.
Meet our host
Ibanomonde Ngema
Ibanomonde Ngema is a South African HIV advocate for young people living with and affected by HIV. She has spoken at major global platforms, including IAS conferences and the United Nations General Assembly. She serves as South Africa’s Her Voice Fund Ambassador and UNFPA’s Regional Youth Advocate for East and Southern Africa and has authored a paper in The Lancet.