Inconvenient question: Science is gifting us new HIV prevention tools but is it expanding choices for the people?
SHOBHA SHUKLA - CNS
Equity is critically important to reach the unreached with best of HIV services
(Image by CNS) Details DMCA
Any new HIV prevention method is not meant to sit on the shelf but to be used by the people who need it to protect themselves from HIV. We have to ensure that new HIV prevention technologies that are coming out of the scientific research pipelines, are accessible to people everywhere - especially those who are more at risk of HIV acquisition. Jim Pickett has passionately called for translating scientific gains into public health outcomes - not with delay, but with equity and justice.
Currently Jim Pickett serves as a Senior Advisor for AVAC and directs their Choice Agenda programme focussed on HIV prevention research and its implementation.
Inconvenient truth
When asked what has changed between 2018 and now, he said: "COVID-19 reshaped our entire world. Traumatizing as it was, it also changed some things for the better, I think, globally. We got better at finding new ways to deliver healthcare. We also learned that we could develop a vaccine quickly and that was a win. But we failed to deliver it equitably in many parts of the world." Jim was speaking with CNS at the 5th HIV Research for Prevention Conference of the International AIDS Society (IAS) in Lima, Peru.
Sadly, equity and justice are not driving our health responses. "We have had some exciting scientific developments in the HIV prevention space. We have cabotegravir- a once-in-two months injection that can prevent HIV. But accessibility is a different issue. It is available in our country, but it is extremely expensive. It is also complex to deliver. So the number of users is very low. It is available, but not accessible for many," he said.
"We now have another long-acting injectable lenacapavir- two shots a year- that is on its way to being approved. And people are calling it game-changing and transformative in terms of HIV prevention. But it remains to be seen what access will look like. Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Brazil are among the countries that have been left out (from the 120 countries list) by Gilead (makers of lenacapavir) to provide it at reduced costs, despite these 4 countries being part of the clinical study of the drug," he added.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
