29 JANUARY 2021 VOLUME 23 ISSUE 4

A week into his term, President Biden signed a memorandum rescinding the policy known by its critics as the “global gag rule,” which bars US funding for organizations abroad that perform abortions or offer information about them.

There remains a substantial gap throughout Europe between the need and desire for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and the number of people actually using it, an online workshop convened towards the end of last year by the European AIDS Clinical Society (EACS) heard.

Women taking long-acting injections of cabotegravir had 89% fewer HIV infections than women prescribed daily PrEP pills in a landmark study conducted in seven African countries, Professor Sinead Delany-Moretlwe of the University of Witwatersrand told the virtual HIV Research for Prevention (HIVR4P) conference.

New pivotal research, the first of its kind to announce results, builds on ideas from vaccination and tests a new idea: whether special antibodies — the type that can help someone fight off multiple forms of the virus — can be used to prevent HIV infection.

It has taken more than 4 years and $119 million for HIV researchers to test whether giving people infusions of antibodies made in a lab can protect them from the AIDS virus. Now, the unsatisfying answer is in: sometimes.

Today, important advances in HIV prevention research were announced at the 4th HIV Research for Prevention Conference (HIVR4P // Virtual), convened by IAS – the International AIDS Society. The most exciting highlights for women who have been waiting with bated breath are findings from a pair of trials evaluating whether infusions with a broadly neutralizing antibody (bNAb) can prevent HIV acquisition and positive interim results from a study of long-acting injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in women.

Islatravir, the first of a new class of antiretrovirals, appeared to be well tolerated, reached levels adequate for HIV prevention and should work for at least a month, according to research presented this week at the virtual HIV Research for Prevention conference (HIVR4P).

In a world where recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is top of the political agenda and vital for everyone’s future, we would do well to relearn some vital lessons about the nature and transformative potential that the HIV/Aids response has exemplified.

After an unprecedented and emotionally exhausting year, Plus asked some of the most respected Black leaders in the HIV community what they want to see happen in 2021.

Our study demonstrated a remarkably high level of awareness about HIV/AIDS among study participants, but the knowledge and positive acceptance attitude towards PLWHIV were not encouraging. Thus, endeavors to expand and strengthen educational campaigns on HIV/AIDS in communities, health facilities, and schools are highly recommended. Attention should particularly focus on young-aged and disadvantaged women with low educational level, poor socioeconomic status and those who have never been tested for HIV/AIDS.

Future refinements of the HPTN Ethics Guidance Document (EGD) and other research ethics guidance could be strengthened by providing explicit advice regarding the ethical issues associated with disrupted research and the reopening of studies. In addition, additional consideration should be given to appropriately balancing domains of risk (e.g., physical versus social), addressing the vulnerability of research staff and community partners, and responding to un-anticipatable ancillary care needs of participants and communities. Appropriately addressing these issues will necessitate conceptual work, which would benefit from the careful documentation of the actual ethical issues encountered in research, the strategies implemented to overcome them, and their success in doing so. Throughout all of these efforts, it is critical to remember that the HIV pandemic not be forgotten in the rush to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Study findings provide insight into gaps that must be addressed when using technology-enhanced methods to support HIV testing and research participation among transgender women in the US. Substantial effort is required on the part of investigators to ensure equitable access across subgroups and, thus, minimize bias to avoid reproducing health disparities in research.

Readiness for PrEP implementation was positively associated with a climate supportive of HIV prevention, leadership engagement, and availability of resources, and negatively associated with providers holding negative attitudes about PrEP's suitability for FP. The Title X FP network is a vital source of sexual health care for millions of individuals across the US. Clinic-level barriers to providing PrEP must be addressed to expand onsite PrEP delivery in Title X FP clinics in the Southern US.

40 years since the first cases of HIV were identified, we often reflect in these pages about the enormous advances that have been made to combat the disease. From the vantage point of 2021 there is a lot to celebrate: an unknown virus identified, characterised, and sequenced; treatments developed and refined; health systems strengthened to deliver those treatments; an HIV response that has shaped health systems and global health.

We seek to show the importance of prioritising access to PrEP for people living with serious mental illness treated in community mental health settings. We describe barriers to prescribing PrEP, including provider attitudes and provider knowledge gaps, patient attitudes and knowledge, and systems issues. We also address the concerns that community mental health clinic administrators might have about taking on the responsibility of offering PrEP. In summary, despite the barriers to prescribing PrEP in these settings, we believe that there is a unique opportunity for community mental health settings to help address the HIV epidemic by facilitating the prescribing of PrEP to the at-risk populations they currently serve.

Vaccine and placebo arms did not significantly differ in ≥ HSIL or EAGL rates or in protection against infection by HPV genotype vaccine except for HPV6 at 12 months after the first dose. A long-lasting immune response was observed in almost all the vaccinated men. The main protective factor against ≥ HSIL was to have completed the vaccination regimen more than 6 months earlier.

Novel AEHI criteria incorporating ARCHITECT S/CO into diagnostic algorithms facilitated rapid and efficient ART initiation without waiting for an HIV RNA result. These new criteria may facilitate AEHI diagnosis, staging, and immediate ART initiation in future research studies and clinical practice.