Kampala — For more than two decades, scientific innovation and international financing have worked together to transform HIV from a deadly disease into a manageable chronic condition for millions of people. But today, the two pillars that have sustained the global HIV response appear to be moving in different directions. Researchers are reporting some of…
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — For decades, South Africa has been at the epicentre of the global HIV epidemic. Today, it is becoming the testing ground for what many scientists believe could be the most important advance in HIV prevention since daily pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP): a twice-yearly injection that has shown almost complete protection against…
Cyberattacks, data breaches, online harassment and other forms of technology-facilitated violence are becoming significant obstacles to HIV prevention and treatment, according to a UNAIDS specialist who says digital security has become inseparable from the fight against the epidemic itself. As health and social services have moved online, protecting people’s privacy while making sure digital transformation…
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — The global fight against HIV has never had more powerful scientific tools or faced greater political uncertainty. More than 7,000 scientists, activists, policymakers and community leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro for the opening of the International AIDS Conference. Global leaders warned that decades of progress against the epidemic could be…
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — The global HIV response stands at a defining moment, with health leaders warning that decades of progress are at risk as international funding declines and prevention programmes are scaled back across some of the world’s hardest-hit countries. Although new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths have fallen to their lowest levels…
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — HIV activists confronted U.S. officials before the official start of the AIDS 2026 conference over sweeping changes to Washington’s global HIV strategy, accusing the Trump administration of creating a public health emergency through funding cuts, while the United States defended a new financing model that it says will build more sustainable,…
Brazil has hosted clinical trials paving the way for lenacapavir’s approval and sale, but the medicine remains widely inaccessible for people there. As the 26th International AIDS Conference kicks off this weekend in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) continues to urge the US pharmaceutical corporation Gilead Sciences to make the…
Twice-yearly injectable lenacapavir has continued to demonstrate exceptional protection against HIV infection. Twice-yearly injectable lenacapavir continued to provide strong protection against HIV in two landmark clinical trials, with updated data showing almost no new infections, high adherence and no new safety concerns. Researchers said updated findings from the PURPOSE-1 and PURPOSE-2 studies showed the long-acting…
The first large-scale evidence from organisations implementing the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) suggests that recent funding and policy disruptions have triggered widespread interruptions to HIV services, with local organisations, children and key populations among those hardest hit. For more than two decades, PEPFAR has been held up as one of the…
Greater diagnostic testing for cryptococcal meningitis could help avert 135,000 deaths a year in Africa, writes Edith Magak. [LILONGWE, Malawi] A persistent headache nearly killed Elube. It took Patricia’s sight. Both women had cryptococcal meningitis, a fungal infection that mostly affects people with HIV and kills around 135,000 people each year in Sub-Saharan Africa. Effective…
