AVAC's Blog: P-Values

For the second year in a row, the US AIDS program PEPFAR has opened its annual planning process up to civil society engagement and input. The in-person COP review is the culmination of an engagement process that has included countries sharing voluminous quantities of data on the previous year’s performance and the next year’s targets, along with a narrative “Strategic Direction Summary” describing the plans for the years ahead.

It’s that time again—HIV Vaccine Awareness Day. AVAC has worked with partners to develop a range of tools and resources for this day and for year-round advocacy. We hope you’ll find them useful whether you unfurl banners, strike up a band, hold a fishing boat race, host a town hall forum, or just turn to your closest neighbor and say, on May 18, “I’m committed to ending the AIDS epidemic, and that means finding an HIV vaccine.”

It’s been 12 years since I first encountered the notion of PrEP, which was at the AIDS 2004 conference in Bangkok. I was intrigued by the idea but later on, I lost both hope and track of the trajectory of PrEP. Fast forward over a decade later and PrEP is poised to become a success story. This is why last week’s meeting of mostly gay African men devising advocacy plans for PrEP access felt long overdue, but also perfectly timed.

Seventy-five advocates from across Africa—friends, allies, researchers—came together for a one-day meeting in Johannesburg on April 14 to discuss the recent dapivirine ring results, what they mean in the broader context of women’s HIV prevention, what comes next and key milestones to plan for.