HIV Prevention

ABSTRACT The effectiveness of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is well known but its availability has reached a turning point. Access to PrEP, previously solely targeted at men who have sex with men, is now being offered to women, primarily in Western countries. Some pioneering African countries are now offering PrEP to female sex workers, transgender people and the sexual partners of people who inject drugs. Three organizations in Mali, Mauritius and Morocco have developed a community project offering PrEP to HIV-exposed women. It provides women with tailored, sustainable services, combining research, advocacy and implementation. It shows real promise of success and has potential for scale up and replication.

ABSTRACT This is a critical time for the global HIV response, and the decisions taken could determine a resurgence of the AIDS epidemic or its end. The response to the COVID-19 pandemic has shown what is possible globally. The same commitment to ending the HIV crisis is required. The Global Fund post-2022 strategy provides an opportunity to develop a roadmap to ‘get us back on track’ and demonstrate strong leadership to end AIDS.

ABSTRACT Countries in Eastern and Southern Africa have the highest prevalence rates of HIV globally, and dedicated on average 4.6% of their Global Fund HIV/AIDS grants for prevention among adolescents and youth for the 2018-2021 implementation period. This proportion is small considering the disproportionate toll HIV takes among adolescents and youth; while they represent 20.2% of the total population in the two regions, they contributed 36.3% to new HIV infections in 2017.

ABSTRACT In the summer of 2017, certain amendments were adopted to the law regulating the response measures for HIV and other socially communicable diseases in the Republic of Belarus. The amendments allow for the establishment of a social contracting mechanism to make government funding accessible for NGOs working on HIV prevention among key affected populations. The amendments come into effect in January 2018. Currently, a package of documents which will regulate the functioning of the mechanism is being prepared by relevant ministries. However, there are still a lot of questions about how this mechanism is going to work in practice. This article describes how the social contracting mechanism in Belarus came into being.

ABSTRACT Montenegro’s HIV component became newly eligible for support from the Global Fund in time to receive an allocation for 2017-2019. The allocation is conditional on Montenegro developing a social contracting mechanism to allow the government to fund NGOs to provide HIV prevention services to key affected populations. This has given added impetus to plans that were already underway in Montenegro to develop a social contracting mechanism. This feature article describes the process and the outcomes.

ABSTRACT This article considers concerns among HIV prevention advocates that the Global Fund does not provide detailed data on its expenditures for HIV prevention activities.