Scale-backs and deep spending cuts within the US government and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS are hobbling HIV treatment programs across Africa, including in Ethiopia, warns a new report from a UN health agency. “Before the funding cuts in 2025, Ethiopia was heavily dependent on external funding (mainly from the Global Fund and the…
South Africa has moved a step closer to an HIV vaccine with the launch of the BRILLIANT 011 clinical trial at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation (DTHF) site at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. The first participant has already been enrolled. The trial forms part of the BRILLIANT Consortium, an African-led research initiative working…
No, Gammora is not a ‘cure’ for HIV. False promises and fake medicine being sold on social media IN SHORT: Social media posts advertising a drug called “Gammora” claim that it can treat and even “cure” HIV. But these claims are false. Gammora is not available for sale anywhere – these advertisements are scams –…
The US government paused all foreign assistance in January 2025. This abrupt decision affected the delivery of life-saving HIV medicines and the provision of HIV prevention services to millions of people. A UNAIDS report estimates there could be an additional 6 million new HIV infections and 4 million Aids-related deaths by 2029 if the world…
The World Health Organization (WHO) has validated Brazil for the elimination of mother-to-child transmission (EMTCT) of HIV, making it the most populous country in the Americas to achieve this historic milestone. This accomplishment reflects Brazil’s long-standing commitment to universal and free access to health services through its Unified Health System (SUS), anchored in a strong…
Nairobi — African countries have renewed calls for equitable, affordable, and timely access to long-acting HIV prevention and treatment innovations, warning that scientific breakthroughs alone will not end the epidemic without deliberate action to close access and affordability gaps. The call was made during a high-level UNAIDS meeting in Brazil, where Kenya’s National AIDS and…
Children and adolescents living with HIV-AIDS continue to be left behind in access to early diagnosis, life-saving treatment and care, as shrinking funding threatens to increase their risks and reverse decades of progress, Unicef warned ahead of World AIDS Day. A recently published Unicef-UNAIDS modelling shows that, if programme coverage falls by half, an additional…
South Africa, Eswatini and Zambia were to begin on Monday administering a groundbreaking new HIV-prevention injection in the drug’s first public rollouts in Africa, which has the world’s highest HIV burden. Lenacapavir, taken twice a year, has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV transmission by more than 99.9 percent, making it functionally akin…
Nairobi — A new study conducted across three African countries has found that an injectable HIV treatment–Cabotegravir/Rilpivirine (CAB LA + RPV LA), administered every two months–is safe, well tolerated, and preferred by most patients. The Month-12 results, drawn from study sites in Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa, offer renewed hope for improved treatment adherence, fewer…
“It was a nice and hot day, there was this breeze. But for me, it was a cold front. That’s how bad it was. And already I was now experiencing AIDS symptoms,” Nombuyiselo Mapongwana (58) recalls from the living room of her Soweto home. In 2002, five years after she was diagnosed with HIV Nombuyiselo…
