MUNICH – While new HIV infections in 2023 plummeted globally to the level that they were in the late 1980s, they have surged by 20% in Eastern Europe and Central Asia since 2010, according to UNAIDS. There were 140,000 new HIV infections across Eastern Europe and Central Asia in 2023, with 93% of new cases […] Continue reading ->
WHO’s Regional Director for Europe reflects on why we haven’t been able to end AIDS despite having the tools to do so – as Germany hosts the 25th International AIDS conference. Twenty-four years ago, Maria Godlevkskaya was in a coma in a hospital in Russia, her immune system having failed without treatment for her HIV. […] Continue reading ->
On the eve of the International AIDS conference in Munich, scientists report that another person has been cured of AIDS via a stem cell transplant and impressive success in HIV prevention via trials of long-action injectable pre-exposure medication – yet funding cuts threaten global HIV goals. UNAIDS economist Erik Lamontagne said that HIV could cost […] Continue reading ->
By 2035, nearly three quarters of the 40 million people living with HIV worldwide will be living with one or more chronic disease, also referred to as noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). While there are encouraging examples of integrated HIV and NCD healthcare delivery, this is yet to become the norm in low- and middle-income countries. As stakeholders […] Continue reading ->
None of the over 2,000 young women and girls injected twice a year with a new drug, lenacapavir, contracted HIV in one of the most important advances in HIV prevention. Gilead Sciences announced these results last Friday, reporting that its Phase 3 PURPOSE 1 trial, conducted in South Africa and Uganda involving 2,134 women and […] Continue reading ->
One of the world’s largest global health initiatives (GHI), vaccine alliance Gavi, started in a UNICEF basement with a staff of five people. Nearly 25 years later, Gavi has grown into one of the most influential players on the global health stage, driving progress on key global health challenges. Yet several experts on global health […] Continue reading ->
The Novo Nordisk Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Wellcome Trust have announced a new partnership, committing $300 million over three years to stimulate innovative research in developing countries into three of the world’s most critical global health challenges and their interlinkages – including climate change, infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). An additional […] Continue reading ->
HARARE, Zimbabwe – Michelle and Michael Mutsvaki were infected with HIV at birth, but while their parents have shunned antiretroviral (ARV) medicine to treat their HIV, the siblings opted for treatment in their teens. The siblings, now aged 22 and 24, learnt about their HIV status from their mother, but she assured them that their […] Continue reading ->
As HIV practitioners gather this week in Yaoundé for AFRAVIH, the largest international Francophone conference on HIV/AIDS, and a few months before the 25th International AIDS Conference in Munich, the Vice-Chair of the Global Fund Board urges renewed focus on promoting equity in the fight against HIV particularly for groups that continue to suffer a […] Continue reading ->
Twenty years ago, the sight of women, men and children being carried to hospitals in wheelbarrows as they clung to the fragile threads of life, was heartbreakingly common. AIDS was not just a disease. It was a shadow of despair that loomed over our communities, threatening to engulf us in darkness. But then, in a […] Continue reading ->