The end of the Mosaico vaccine trial must be a spur to deliver HIV treatment and prevention options to all who need them says UNAIDS
The end of the Mosaico HIV vaccine trial must lead to a continued drive to innovate as well as an urgency to ensure that proven HIV prevention and treatment options reach all who need them, says UNAIDS. Rapid progress against the HIV pandemic is possible if existing prevention and treatment options are made available through the sharing of technologies, expanding provision, and tackling barriers to access. The development, and sharing, of long-acting prevention and treatment options are also…
Meet a Vaccine Champion overcoming vaccine hesitancy in Ghana
After coming to learn that it is a lack of vaccination which poses a threat to health, particularly for people living with HIV, Joshua is angry at those who have promoted “misleading stories about the vaccine, its effects, the motivations behind its creation”. That is why Joshua decided to play his part. In June this year, he became one of 40 Vaccine Champions to undergo COVID-19 vaccination advocacy training, aimed at reinforcing their capacity to spread positive messaging and debunk “fake…
Identification of fast-spreading HIV variant provides evidence of urgency to halt the pandemic and reach all with testing and treatment
Newly published research from the Netherlands has revealed the existence of a more transmissible and damaging variant of HIV. People living with the newly revealed HIV subtype experience double the rate of immune system decline (CD4 count), have higher HIV viral loads (amount of virus in the blood) and are vulnerable to developing AIDS two to three times faster after diagnosis than if they were living with other strains of the virus. The study, led by researchers from the University of Oxford’s…
UNAIDS welcomes the first WHO COVID-19 Technology Access Pool licensing agreement
UNAIDS welcomes the first licensing agreement under the World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) initiative, negotiated between Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain’s High Council of Scientific Research) and the Medicines Patent Pool.
UNAIDS welcomes landmark agreement between Medicines Patent Pool and Merck Sharp and Dohme
UNAIDS welcomes the agreement between the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) and the pharmaceutical company Merck Sharp & Dohme through which the intellectual property rights over an antiviral medicine to treat mild to moderate forms of COVID-19 in adult patients are shared with interested sub-licensees on a non-exclusive and transparent basis. The new medicine, molnupiravir, is still pending regulatory approval but has obtained optimal results in clinical trials.
A Dose of Reality: How rich countries and pharmaceutical corporations are breaking their vaccine promises
Developing countries have been hit with an endless tide of inadequate gestures and broken promises from rich countries and pharmaceutical companies, who are failing to deliver billions of doses they promised while blocking the real solutions to vaccine inequality, according to a new report published today by the People’s Vaccine Alliance.
More than 140 former heads of state and Nobel laureates call on candidates for German chancellor to waive intellectual property rules for COVID vaccines
More than 140 former heads of state and government and Nobel laureates today called on the candidates to be the next German chancellor Annalena Baerbock, Olaf Scholz, and Armin Laschet to declare themselves in favour of waiving intellectual property rules for COVID 19 vaccines and transferring vaccine technologies, and “to make these the policies of any future coalition government”.
An HIV vaccine: who needs it?
The participants of the International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Science session on an HIV vaccine were welcomed by Lucy Stackpool-Moore, Director, HIV Programmes and Advocacy at the International AIDS Society, after which Susan Buchbinder, from the University of California, San Francisco, and the San Francisco Department of Public Health, made introductory remarks. Two recorded presentations were then shown, by Kevin De Cock and Gabriela Gomez, speaking, respectively, on the need for…
Opening session of the IAS Conference on HIV Science
The International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Science opened on 18 July. The participants were welcomed by Adeeba Kamarulzaman, the Chair of the IAS, and Hendrik Streeck, the local Chair of the conference, who held up UNAIDS as an example of the multisectoral approach that was needed for the response to COVID-19. The opening address was delivered by Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, which was followed by a panel discussion.
Science, HIV and COVID-19—where are we headed?
A side event at the United Nations High-Level Meeting on AIDS, being held in New York and online from 8 to 10 June, has highlighted the science relevant to the new UNAIDS global strategy and targets and the changing scientific environment that will take the world to 2030, the Sustainable Development Goal target date for ending AIDS.
