Webinars and recordings

On 9 June 2021, United Nations Member States adopted a political declaration calling on countries to provide access to people-centred and effective HIV combination prevention options for 95% of all people vulnerable to acquiring HIV within all epidemiologically relevant groups, age groups and geographic settings. The declaration also calls on countries to ensure that 95% of people living with HIV know their HIV status, 95% of people who know their status are on HIV treatment and 95% of people on HIV treatment are virally suppressed. This declaration reinforces and accelerates the UNAIDS Fast-Track strategy to end the AIDS pandemic by 2030. The strategy, adopted on 18 November 2014, set out the 90-90-90 testing and treatment targets to be achieved by 2020. 

Globally and at regional level, the 90-90-90 targets were largely missed. However, progress has been steady. At least eight countries in settings as diverse as Botswana and Switzerland achieved the 90-90-90 targets by 2020, showing that with sufficient funding, political will, policies and evidence-informed interventions, the targets were not overly ambitious. 

Learning from both the success and failures towards reaching the 2020 targets is essential to increase the chance of ending AIDS as a threat to public health by 2030. Success will require commitment from all stakeholders in the HIV response. The Industry Liaison Forum at IAS – the International AIDS Society – held a series of online roundtables to explore important gaps and how the biomedical industry can actively contribute to achieving the 95-95-95 target by 2025.

Session 1: HIV testing strategies to reach key populations on 18 April 2023, 16:00-17:30 CEST

• Session 1 recording

Session 2: Ensuring linkage to and retention in care on 4 May 2023, 16:00-18:15 CEST

• Session 2 recording

Session 3: Overcoming global challenges: Achieving and sustaining viral suppression on 23 May 2023, 16:00-17:30 CEST

• Session 3 recording

The webinar was hosted by IAS – the International AIDS Society – on 4 April 2023, provided updates on innovations in the treatment and prevention of HIV and tuberculosis (TB) co-infections, including the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) recently published module in its consolidated guidelines on TB: drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment 2022 update. Participants will hear from MedAccess about an agreement to reduce the price of a recently announced alternative drug to treat multidrug-resistant TB and what this means for the treatment of HIV and TB. Finally, civil society representatives will share their experiences on integrated community engagement interventions and new innovative models of treatment for HIV and TB.

Speakers:

• Updated WHO consolidated guidelines on DR-TB treatment 2022 Fuad Mirzayev, Team Lead, TB treatment team, Prevention, Diagnosis, Treatment, Care and Innovation Unit (PCI) WHO Global TB Programme (GTB)
  Presentation
   

• Market shaping to improve equitable access to drug-resistant TB treatment Hema Srinivasan, Chief Access Officer MedAccess
  Presentation
   

• Integrated community engagement interventions in HIV-TB Ashna Ashesh, MDR TB Survivor, Public Health Professional, Lawyer, Member, rGLC, SEA, WHO; and Fellow, SATB
  Presentation
   

• The ‘whole-society’ & innovative models to treating co-infections Wame Jallow, Vice President of International Programs, Population Media Center
  Presentation
   

Moderators:

• Sean Wasserman Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine, University of Cape Town
   

• Kenneth Ngure, Associate Professor of Global Health and the Dean School of Public Health, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, and IAS Governing Council Member

Materials:

• Webinar recording

The webinar was hosted by IAS – the International AIDS Society – on 30 March 2023, provided the latest updates on long-acting injectable PrEP, including science and research emerging from recent conferences and the results from HPTN 083 and 084. Participants also heard a civil society perspective on the evolving PrEP landscape, as well as on-the-ground approaches to increase access to long-acting PrEP.

Speakers:

• Results from HPTN 083 and 084 Beatriz Grinsztejn, MD, STI/HIV Clinical Research Laboratory, Director, Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas-Fiocruz and President-Elect, IAS
  Presentation
   

• Long-Acting PrEP: What we learned from CROI and what we still need to know Sunil S Solomon, MBBS PhD MPH, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University, USA
  Presentation
   

• The evolving PrEP landscape Shakirah Namwanje, Policy Research and Advocacy Officer, Uganda Network of AIDS Service Organizations (UNASO)
   

• Accelerating Access to Long-Acting PrEP: Oral PrEP Progress and Planning for the Future Mitchell Warren, Executive Director, AVAC and Governing Council Member, IAS
  Presentation
   

Moderator:

• Renata Sanders, Associate Professor of Paediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Governing Council Member, IAS

Materials:

• Webinar recording

This webinar featured Guest Editors and authors of the special issue of the Journal of the International AIDS Society, "Growing older with HIV in the Treat-All Era" published in September 2022.

Materials:

• Webinar recording
• Presentation

15 November 2022, 16:00-19:00 CET

This workshop followed a series of events on design approaches for current and future HIV prevention efficacy trials. It brought together industry and non-industry representatives who have a stake in HIV vaccine R&D to explore how biomarkers can be used as surrogate markers of clinical efficacy in counterfactual vaccine trials. 

By debating the design of future efficacy trials, the workshop aimed to contribute to addressing the industry’s concern that, in a changing prevention landscape, conducting efficacy trials can be an obstacle to investment in HIV vaccine R&D.

Workshop recording

19 October 2022, 15:00-18:30 CET

Several approaches have been developed to measure HIV reservoirs. This workshop focused on much-needed non-invasive techniques and surrogate markers that can detect and quantify HIV reservoirs in a range of cells and tissues beyond blood. These techniques and markers can be used in resource-limited settings where HIV cure research is increasingly being conducted. The identification of such markers may accelerate the development of an HIV cure by providing mechanistic insights that potentially lead to the development of new therapeutic approaches and provide an alternative to or complement analytical treatment interruptions (ATIs) and viral load measurement commonly used in cure research.

This workshop brought together industry representatives from the IAS Corporate Partnership Programme’s Industry Collaboration Group, researchers, clinicians and trial participants to discuss innovative non-invasive technology for the measurement of HIV reservoirs in low-and middle-income countries.

Workshop recording

7 October, 2022, 15:00-17:00 CET

Analytical treatment interruptions (ATIs) are structured, temporary interruptions of antiretroviral therapy (ART) performed in HIV cure clinical studies. ATI is commonly used to assess the effects of cure interventions aimed at achieving durable virological control in the absence of ART or achieving ART-free HIV remission.

Monitoring HIV viral load during the intervention is a requirement to measure the efficacy of the intervention and ensure client safety. Viral load is measured by molecular tests that amplify HIV RNA by PCR assays that require a high level of technical expertise and laboratory capacity.

This roundtable brought together industry representatives from the IAS Corporate Partnership Programme’s Industry Collaboration Group, researchers, clinicians and trial participants to explore how best to perform point-of-care viral load testing in cure research involving ATIs in low- and middle-income countries.

Roundtable recording

24 February 2022, 15:00-17:00 CET

Syndromic management based on clinical diagnosis with empiric treatment has been the mainstay of healthcare in low- and middle-income countries. Yet this excludes HIV and malaria rapid testing Slowly, appreciation for the clinical value of diagnostics is changing, but it remains suboptimal.

The rapid development of tests for COVID-19 has taught us that sufficient political will, funding and resources can lead to success in a short time. The COVID-19 pandemic also taught us critical lessons that, if shared and adopted, can help us be better prepared for the next pandemic.

To address some issues around research and development on innovative technologies for in vitro diagnostics (IVDs), the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the Collaborative Registration Procedure for the accelerated registration of prequalified IVDs based on its experience with procedures for prequalified medicines and vaccines. This procedure was successfully piloted in 2019 and is now being rolled out. In June 2021, WHO published further guidance to support the use of the registration procedure in the WHO Technical Report Series (TRS) 1030, 2021 (Annex 4).

The Industry Liaison Forum, part of the Corporate Partnership Programme of IAS – the International AIDS Society – held a roundtable discussion bringing together representatives of regulatory and normative agencies and the diagnostics and pharmaceutical industry to introduce the collaborative procedure, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. They discussed the lessons learnt by IVD manufacturers and regulators from the COVID-19 pandemic and explored the Collaborative Registration Procedure.

Webinar recording

The prevention and treatment landscape for HIV has come a long way since the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 1987. Today, numerous options are available. First-line ART regimens are well tolerated, available in daily fixed-dose combinations and minimize the emergence of HIV drug resistance. However, given that treatment is lifelong, there are several challenges to clients and people living with and affected by HIV that pose barriers to optimal adherence; these include self-stigma, pill burden and administration frequencies. It is, therefore, important to provide access to a variety of options, such as long-acting formulations, and meet the diverse needs and expectations of clients and people living with and affected by HIV while ensuring their meaningful engagement at each point of the development process through to delivery. Multilateral efforts should also focus on service delivery optimization to ensure sustainability of the HIV response. 

The FDA’s recent approvals of the first long-acting regimens add an important and exciting addition to the HIV treatment and prevention toolbox. To realize the full potential of long-acting regimens (which may be injectable or in other formats, including pills, patches and vaginal rings), there is a need to explore their potential and mitigate anticipated challenges to access, uptake and continuation for both beneficiary populations and health systems. This requires a collective and coordinated effort involving all stakeholders: communities, ministries of health, civil society, industry, funders, procurement agencies, implementers and researchers. 

IAS – the International AIDS Society – in collaboration with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), brought together non-industry and industry partners through a three-part roundtable series to drive the conversation on what is needed to advance the introduction and scale up of long-acting technologies in low- and middle-income countries.

Session 1: Landscape of long-acting formulations and delivery platforms for HIV prevention and treatment on 5 May 2022, 90 mins, 16:00-17:30 CET

• Session 1 recording

Session 2: Delivering differently: Service delivery optimization to ensure sustainability of the HIV response on 25 May 2022, 120 mins, 17:30-19:30 CET

• Session 2 recording

Session 3: Pathways to timely, quality-assured, affordable and available long-acting formulations and delivery platforms at scale on 28 June 2022, 90 mins, 16:00-17:30 CET

• Session 3 recording

Consistent with its strategic objectives, the Enterprise is convening HIV vaccine R&D stakeholders with the aim to build a consensus on efficient ways to prioritize and advance vaccine product development that encompasses design, clinical testing, and funding to accelerate the development of an HIV vaccine.

Materials:

• Webinar recording

Chair, speakers, panelists, facilitators and rapporteurs:

• Susan Buchbinder, Bridge HIV, San Francisco Department of Public Health, USA
• Kundai Chinyenze, IAVI, Kenya
• Bart Haynes, Duke University, USA
• Maureen Luba, Cooper Smith, Malawi
• Gavin Churchyard, Aurum, South Africa
• Bart Haynes, Duke University, USA
• Glenda Gray, South African Medical Research Council, South Africa
• Jim Kublin, HVTN, USA
• Johan Vekemans, IAVI, USA
• Nandi Luthuli, AVAC, South Africa
• Yves Levy, VRI, France
• Susan Barnett, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USA
• Sandhya Vasan, MHRP, USA
• William Kilembe, Zambia Emory HIV Research Project, Zambia
• Roger Tatoud, IAS Consultant, France
• Stacey Hannah, AVAC, USA
• Carl Dieffenbach, NIAID, USA
• Carey Hwang, Vir Biotechnology, USA
• Margaret McCluskey, USAID, USA
• Pervin Anklesaria, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USA
• Roger Le Grand, CEA, France

This webinar explored the needs, optimal methods and practical approaches for improving knowledge and capabilities of health products that regulatory authorities, agencies and ethics review committees use to assess experimental medicine clinical research in high-income and low- and middle-income countries.

Materials:

• Webinar recording

Speakers and panelists:

• Chair: Cathy Slack, Head of the HIV AIDS Vaccines Ethics Group, University of KwaZulu-Natal, RSA

• Bartholomew Dicky Akanmori, WHO Regional Office for Africa Regional Advisor, Vaccine Regulation and Safety Communicable and Non-Communicable Disease (UCN) Cluster, Vaccine Preventable Diseases (VPD) Program. Brazzaville, Congo.

• Eric Karikari - Boateng , Director - Centre for Laboratory Services and Research, FDA, Ghana.

• Gavin Churchyard, CEO of The Aurum Institute NPC, RSA.

• Jerome Singh, Adjunct Professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.

• Julien Nyombayire, Country Director - Project San Francisco

The webinar concluded with a Panel Discussion.

Converging social, cultural and economic factors affect the way in which adolescent girls and young women understand, negotiate and access information and biomedical treatment related to HIV. Persistent gender and age disparities and stigmas around female sexuality in this group reinforce such issues as poverty, lack of access to education (including sexual and reproductive health education), livelihood opportunities and financial autonomy. Furthermore, adolescent girls and young women also lack access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, as well as other healthcare services, and face the risk of violence, including intimate partner violence.

The disproportionate vulnerability of adolescent girls and young women to HIV calls for a greater understanding of how best to conduct research for and with this group and how to develop appropriate, effective and accessible prevention interventions. Progress in HIV prevention research, especially clinical trials among populations of adolescent girls and young women, is largely hindered by ethical requirements and the vulnerability associated with engaging this group.

This two-part webinar series will highlight the key aspects related to the ethics of engaging adolescent girls and young women in HIV prevention research and sexual and reproductive health programming, and leverage insights from social and behavioural research to inform future design of engagement strategies for this group.

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Webinar 1, 30 August 2022: Engaging Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) in HIV prevention research

This webinar looked into the need for engaging adolescent girls and young women in HIV research and help understand latest scientific developments and the ethical dilemmas.

Materials:

• Webinar recording

Speakers and panellists:

• Chair: Ethel Makila, IAVI, Kenya

• Linda-Gail Bekker, IAS Past President and Director, Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, RSA

• Cathy Slack, Head of the HIV AIDS Vaccines Ethics Group, University of KwaZulu-Natal, RSA

• Renu Golwakar, Senior Director, Gender Youth and Social Inclusion, India

• Grace Munisi, Senior Technical Advisor, Gender Youth and Social Inclusion, Tanzania

• Doreen Moraa Moracha, Founder, I am a Beautiful Story, Kenya

The webinar concluded with Q&A.

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Webinar 2, 6 September 2022: Better understanding the needs of adolescent women and young girls in HIV prevention research design

This webinar explored how we can leverage learnings from behavioural research to enhance better engagement of adolescent girls and young women in HIV programmes and research

Materials:

• Webinar recording

Speakers and panellists:

• Chair: Devi Leena Bose, Senior Manager, IAVI, India

• Anabel Gomez, independent social behavior and change expert, US

• Francis Meyo, Vice-President – Programs, Busara, Kenya

• Uttara Bharath Kumar, Senior Technical Advisor, SBC and Capacity Strengthening, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, India

• Yvonne Wangũi Machira, Director, Socio-Behavioral Research, IAVI, Kenya

The webinar concluded with Q&A.

To contain the outbreak, urgent action is needed to reach people most vulnerable to monkeypox with accurate information and preventive interventions. Care must also be taken to not exacerbate stigma that may discourage the most vulnerable from accessing services.

The webinar will provide the latest information on the epidemiology of monkeypox in non-endemic countries and discuss prevention options, as well as updates on clinical presentation and treatment. Community perspectives will bring focus to the best ways to reach those most impacted to date to prevent a rapid spread of the virus as large-scale gatherings become more common once again.

Speakers:

• Latest Global updates on the Monkeypox outbreak including implications for People living with HIV Meg Doherty, Director of Global HIV, Hepatitis and STI Programme, WHO, Switzerland
  Presentation
   
• Clinical Presentation of Monkeypox occurring outside endemic areas: What is different in the current worldwide outbreak Marina Klein, Professor of Medicine, McGill University Health Centre and Research Director, Division of Infectious Diseases and Chronic Viral Illness Service, National Co-Director, CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network, Canada
  Presentation
   
• Clinical research networks: rapid mobilisation Chloe Orkin, Consultant Physician and Lead for HIV Research, Queen Mary University of London and Barts Health NHS Trust, United Kingdom
  Presentation
   
• Priorities in Responding to Monkeypox among Gay, Bisexual, and other Men who have Sex with Men Keletso Makofane, Health and Human Rights Fellow at FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, United States

Moderators:

• Adeeba Kamarulzaman, IAS President, Malaysia

Materials:

• Webinar recording

An HIV cure is a high priority for people living with HIV and an essential tool for the HIV response; a curative intervention could overcome the limitations of antiretroviral therapy (ART), limit new HIV transmissions, reduce stigma and discrimination, and provide a sustainable financial solution for end the epidemic. In December 2021, the IAS published the IAS Global Scientific Strategy 2021 to guide the field toward a widely accessible, acceptable and affordable HIV cure. The webinar aims to summarize the latest on HIV cure research, as well as guide participants through the strategy and translate it into action.

Speakers:

• HIV cure in the news: Stem-cell transplantation in a U.S. Woman of Mixed Race with AML and HIV-1-The “New York” Patient Deborah Persaud, John Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA
   
• Research Priorities for an HIV Cure: IAS Global Scientific Strategy Steven Deeks, University of California San Francisco, USA
  Presentation
   
• Community involvement in the IAS Global Scientific Strategy: resources for advocates Simon Collins, i-Base, United Kingdom
  Presentation
   
• Global Research Collaboration for an HIV CURE: The way forward Cissy Kityo, Joint Clinical Research Centre, Uganda
  Presentation
   

Moderators:

• Sharon Lewin, IAS President-Elect, Australia

Materials:

• Webinar recording
• Research Priorities for an HIV Cure: IAS Global Scientific Strategy 2021 - Nature Medicine
• Research Priorities for an HIV Cure: IAS Global Scientific Strategy 2021 The science in context
• IAS Global Scientific Strategy 2021: non-technical Q∓A – Hosted by i-Base

Ethically engaging young people in policies and practices that affect their lives is linked to improved health outcomes. Often, however, organizations, research institutions and policy bodies don’t “walk the talk” and struggle with the “how to” of ethical engagement of young people.

This webinar, hosted on 16 December by IAS – the International AIDS Society - highlighted shortfalls in the ethical engagement of young people in the HIV response and showcased best practices to address these gaps. Discussions focused on the expected impact of the launch of guidelines from Penta Child Health Research and Y+ Global on ethical youth engagement for policy, research and programming.

Speakers:

• Meaningful and Ethical Guidelines for Youth Engagement: Daren Paul Katigbak, Deputy Chair, Y+ Global, Philippines
  Presentation
   
• Developing Quality Standards for Effective & Ethical Youth Participation in Research: Tom Burke, Amplify UK
  Presentation
   
• Investing in young women: why we need to get it right to end new infections: Irene Ogeta, ATHENA Network, Kenya
   

Moderators:

• Mercy Shibemba, Penta Child Health Research, UK

Materials:

• Webinar recording

This webinar, hosted on 27 October by IAS – the International AIDS Society – showcased the upcoming launch of the supplement through presentations of the latest science and lessons learned on differentiated service delivery (DSD) for HIV during COVID-19. Presentations highlighted the modifications made by HIV programmes in response to COVID-19 that should be maintained as part of a better structured service delivery system. In addition, the discussions focused on sub-Saharan Africa and remaining evidence gaps that could be addressed through future implementation research.

Speakers:

• Supporting PrEP access for female sex workers in Zimbabwe during COVID-19 lockdown with community-based delivery, extended PrEP refills and virtual support during COVID-19 lockdown: Primrose Matambanadzo, Centre for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Research, Zimbabwe
  Presentation
   
• Changes in utilization of DSD for HIV treatment during COVID-19 in Zambia: Youngji Jo, Boston Medical Centre, USA and Bevis Phiri, Clinton Health Access Initiative, Zambia
  Presentation
   
• DSD for people on second-line antiretroviral therapy: Evidence from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: Jienchi Dorward, Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa, South Africa
  Presentation
   
• Earlier referral to a community-based DSD for HIV treatment model with multi-month dispensing and annual clinic visits: Data from two cluster-randomized trials in Lesotho and Zimbabwe: Trish Muzenda, Kheth’Impilo AIDS Free Living and School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, South Africa
  Presentation
   
• Silver linings: How COVID-19 expedited differentiated service delivery for HIV: Peter Ehrenkranz, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USA
  Presentation
   

Moderators:

• Anna Grimsrud, IAS – International AIDS Society, South Africa
  Izukanji Sikazwe, Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, Zambia

• Nelson Otwoma, National Empowerment Network of People living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya, Kenya

Materials: 

• Webinar recording

This webinar, hosted on 15 June by IAS – the International AIDS Society – provided an opportunity to discuss the updates to screening guidelines and their implications for people living with HIV, implementing partners and governments.

Presentations highlight how to implement these news guidelines in the current context of health system constraints and challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This webinar is endorsed by TB people, the International Union Against TB and Lung Disease (The Union), The Aurum Institute and the Treatment Action Group.

Speakers:

• What’s new in the updated WHO TB screening guidelines and what does this mean in the context of HIV?: Cecily Miller, Technical Officer, Global TB Program, WHO, Switzerland
  Presentation
   
• Where to from here? Comment on the guidelines and recommendations from an implementer perspective: Grania Brigden, Director, Department of Tuberculosis and HIV, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Switzerland
   
• Where to from here? Comment on the guidelines and recommendations from a civil society perspective: David Branigan, TB Project Officer, Treatment Action Group, United States
  Presentation
   
• Impact of COVID-19 on TB/HIV programmes, lessons learnt and next steps towards adopting and implementing the updated WHO TB screening guidance – Zambia: Patrick Saili Nungu, National TB and Leprosy Programme Manager, Ministry of Health, Zambia
  Presentation
   
• Impact of COVID-19 on TB/HIV programmes, lessons learnt and next steps towards adopting and implementing the updated WHO TB screening guidance – South Africa: Salome Charalambous, Chief Specialist Scientist, Adjunct Associate Professor, The Aurum Institute, South Africa
  Presentation
   

Moderators:

• Timur Abdullaev, Board member, TBpeople, Uzbekistan

Materials:

• Webinar recording

This webinar, hosted on 13 April by the International AIDS Society, provided a summary of the latest evidence around tuberculosis (TB) for people living with or vulnerable to HIV and TB-infection from the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2021), and highlighted tools and guidance from implementers, global donors and normative agencies. It provided an opportunity to amplify the voices and perspectives of civil society representatives on TB and HIV services that respond to people’s health needs and preferences and showcase TB and HIV service delivery approaches that are truly person-centered.

Speakers:

• Latest TB science from CROI 2021: Anton Pozniak, Consultant Physician in HIV Medicine, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, UK & IAS Immediate Past President, Switzerland
  Presentation
   
• Making the case for integrated multi-disease testing: Gilles Van Cutsem, Senior TB/HIV Adviser, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), South Africa
  Presentation
   
• Pushing for progress following the UN Political declaration on the Fight Against TB: James Malar, Community, Rights & Gender Advisor, Stop TB Partnership, Switzerland
  Presentation
   
• Integrating TB diagnosis, prevention and treatment within DSD for HIV treatment models: Cuc H. Tran, Epidemiologist at Division of Global HIV & TB, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), United States
  Presentation
   
• Reaching men with TB care and support in South Africa: Andrew Medina-Marino, Senior Investigator and Co-Lead, Division of Men's Health, Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, South Africa
  Presentation
   
• Towards a gender-transformative TB response: Maurine Murenga, Co-Founder and Coordinator, TB Women, Kenya
  Presentation
   

Moderators:

• Anton Pozniak, Consultant Physician in HIV Medicine, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, UK & IAS Immediate Past President, Switzerland
• Lynette Mabote, Consultant and the Global Advocacy Advisor, Treatment Action Group (TAG), United States

Materials:

• Webinar recording
• Presentation

On 1 March - Zero Discrimination Day, the International AIDS Society, in conjunction with the Educational Fund and the Heart of Stigma project, hosted a virtual debate on the global approach towards injustice in the HIV response. The debate highlighted challenges faced by people living with and vulnerable to HIV in accessing effective prevention, treatment and HIV care services and how they can be addressed. It positioned action on HIV-related stigma and discrimination as separate and distinct. Experts debated how best to address injustice and effect inclusive and positive change in the global HIV response.

Debaters:

• Discrimination: Allan Maleche, Executive Director of Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network on HIV and AIDS (KELIN), Kenya
• Stigma: Alice Welbourn, PhD, Founding Director of the Salamander Trust, UK 

Moderator: Laurel Sprague, PhD, Chief, Community Mobilization Division, UNAIDS, Switzerland

Chair: Tessa Oraro-Lawrence, PhD, Project Manager, HIV Programmes and Advocacy, IAS, Switzerland

Materials:

• Webinar recording
• Presentation
• Reading materials

Family Planning and HIV Integration – Policy Priorities, On-the-Ground Realities, and Opportunities Ahead

Every woman and girl has the right to high quality, voluntary, family planning, regardless of her HIV status. Linking family planning and HIV services is crucial for achieving FP2020 and Sustainable Development Goals and for realizing the global dream of an AIDS-free generation. The IAS Differentiated Service Delivery initiative and FP2020 organized a second webinar in our joint series to examine SRH integration policy aspirations, COVID realities, and existing opportunities, including for advocacy in the service of expanding integrated FP HIV care and increasing people-centered care.

Materials

• Webinar recording

The IAS - International AIDS Society, in partnership with the Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA), University of Malaya, will host a follow up virtual meeting to present the progresses made since the IAS Educational Fund workshop, organized in Kuala Lumpur in October 2019. The topics will include HIV self-testing and chemsex, PrEP, as well as COVID-19 and HIV taking into consideration the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on key populations. The discussions will highlight progress that has been made and areas that still require improvement.

Overcoming Challenges in HIV with Science, Innovation and Collaborations in Southeast Asia - Follow up meeting in times of COVID-19 - 3 December 2020 (13:00 – 14:30 Kuala Lumpur time, GMT+8):

Materials:

• An integrated self-testing service delivery program (JOM Test) for key populations and a randomized controlled trial of an online intervention to address chemsex among men who have sex with men in Malaysia: Howie Lim, CERIA/Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya, Malaysia
   
• JOM Test and Chemsex Online Intervention: knowledge and lessons gained from implementation and community engagement: Yusrall Yusoff, Malaysian AIDS Council, Malaysia
  Presentation
   
• The My PrEP study - lessons learnt from a pilot demonstration project and recommendations for scale up: Iskandar Azwa, CERIA/Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya, Malaysia
  Presentation
   
• Seeking the silver lining: differentiated HIV services for safe, sustained connections through COVID-19 and beyond: Michael Cassell, FHI360/LINKAGES/EpiC, Vietnam
  Presentation
   
• Webinar recording

Moderator: Adeeba Kamarulzaman, IAS and CERIA/Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya, Malaysia

This webinar included learning and discussions about perspectives on the need for an HIV cure, progress to date, and current research and advocacy strategies being pursued in the HIV cure field. The webinar also shared results of a multi-stakeholder consensus on a target product profile (TPP) and plans to develop an HIV Cure Africa Acceleration Partnership (HCAAP), presenting the case for an HIV cure and how to get there.

Materials:

• Sharon Lewin, The Peter Doherty Institute, University of Melbourne, Australia
   
• Community language vs Scientific Language in HIV Cure research: Josephine Nabukenya, Makerere University Johns Hopkins University Research Collaboration (MUJHU), Uganda
  Presentation
   
• HIV Cure Target Product Profile: Steve Deeks, UCSF, United States
  Presentation
   
• The Case for an HIV Cure & How to Get There: Launching the HIV Cure Africa Acceleration Partnership (HCAAP): Izukanji Sikazwe, Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Zambia (CIDRZ), Zambia
  Presentation
   
• Webinar recording

This webinar was brought to you by the IAS Towards an HIV Cure programme in collaboration with the IAS Educational Fund.
 

This webinar explored accountability as an important social justice issue in the global response to HIV. To ensure agencies that are managing programmes are delivering critical services more effectively, programme outcomes should be measured and held accountable. The discussion drew attention to how to better monitor progress against structural barriers with a focus on race, gender, age and marginalization related to drug use.

Materials:

• LaRon E. Nelson, Associate Dean for Global Affairs & Planetary Health, Independence Foundation Professor and Associate Professor, Yale School of Nursing
   
• Keren Jemina Dunaway Gonzalez, IAS Youth Champion & International Community of Women (ICW) Latina
   
• Eldred Tellis, Founding Director of the Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust, India
   
• Prof. Matthew Kavanagh, Visiting Professor of Law, Assistant Professor of Global Health and Director of Global Health Policy & Politics Initiative at O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law
   

MODERATOR: Helena Nygren-Krug, Senior Advisor, Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)

Materials:

• Webinar recording
• Presentation

This webinar aimed to support the theme of this year’s UHC Day, “health for all: protect everyone”, by highlighting the importance of accountability to people to ensure implementation of a human rights-based UHC with comprehensive and integrated services. It also had as an objective to provide a voice to people with lived experiences, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic where services have been failing to meet people’s needs.

Materials:

• Opening remarks on government accountability to the “health for all” mandate: Dr. Mmakgomo Raesima (Program Manager for NCDs at the National AIDS and Health Promotions Agency, Botswana)
   
• UHC needs from a community perspective, setting the stage: María Eugenia de Feo Moyano (CSEM of UHC2030 representative and patient and community health services advisor)
  Presentation
   
• UHC – comprehensive approach to public health: Alexandra Volgina (Programme Manager, GNP+)
  Presentation
   
• The role of civil society organizations in provision of integrated services to high risk and marginalized groups: Maka Gogia (Vice Chair of EATG)
  Presentation
   
• High Quality Health Systems are Accountable to People: Margaret E. Kruk MD, MPH (Professor of Health Systems, Depart of Global Health and Population, Harvard)
  Presentation
   
• Webinar recording

The International AIDS Society (IAS) in partnership with the National AIDS Control Council (NACC) Kenya conducted a webinar on the theme of HIV prevention: Revolution through innovation on 30 January 2020. Organized by the IAS Educational Fund, this webinar focused on updates on HIV prevention from IAS 2019 as well as male engagement in the HIV response.

Materials:

• Updates from the IAS 2019 on HIV prevention: Prof Kenneth Ngure, IAS Governing Council member, Associate Professor of Global Health, School of Public Health, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture
  Presentation | Video
   
• Male engagement in the HIV response: PMs Faith Macharia, Programme Officer in charge of Capacity Building, National AIDS
  Presentation | Video
  
   

This webinar organized by the IAS Educational Fund on 18 February 2020, focused on the Latest updates on TB and DR-TB in people living with HIV.

Materials:

• Latest updates on TB and DR-TB in people living with HIV: Dr Teri Roberts, Research and Policy Officer, IAS and Dr Vivian Cox, USAID/Stop TB
  Presentation | Video | Q&A answers (WHO)