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Even before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, preventive services, diagnostics, and treatments for pediatric HIV lagged far behind the comparable tools for adult populations. Recognizing that progress had stalled, in 2017 the Vatican convened leaders from pharmaceutical companies, regulatory agencies, research institutions, and community organizations to align interests and identify new areas for collaboration. This series of discussions gave rise to the Rome Action Plan, a rights-based partnership that has served as an accountability mechanism to generate higher-quality services for children living with HIV globally. In this episode of AIDS2021, Katherine E. Bliss speaks to Chip Lyons, President and CEO of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation; and Monsignor Robert Vitillo, Attaché at the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the UN in Geneva and Secretary General of the International Catholic Migration Commission to discuss the how the commitments made under the Rome Action Plan have advanced progress for children living with HIV and how that partnership model can be adapted for the Covid-19 crisis and used to drive innovation in the years to come.

Economic empowerment is a critical pathway to preventing HIV in adolescent girls and young women (AGYW), and an increasing focus of PEPFAR’s DREAMS program (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe). This episode takes us to western Kenya, where new HIV infections among AGYW are among the highest in the country, fueled by social and economic factors. Janet Fleischman brings us three perspectives about the importance, impact, and challenges of reaching vulnerable young women with economic strengthening activities and why these approaches can improve HIV outcomes. First we speak to Daniel Oluoch-Madiang, the DREAMS coordinator for PATH in Kenya. We then hear from one of the young women participating in DREAMS, Valary Atieno, about how she’s translated the financial support she received from DREAMS into chickens that help her to be independent and avoid risky behaviors. We also hear from one of the DREAMS mentors, Veronica Chesongok Owiti. Their on-the-ground perspectives elevate our understanding about why economic support is so central to HIV prevention for this population.You can see a photo of Valary with her daughter and her chickens here.

In recent years Kenya has experienced notable successes in reducing mother-to-child transmission of HIV and initiating children living with HIV on antiretroviral treatment, but progress in scaling up newer point of care testing approaches and maintaining children on treatment regimens has been slower. Since March of 2020, when the first Covid-19 cases in Kenya were reported, quarantine measures, the diversion of health resources to outbreak response, and supply chain disruptions have exacerbated existing challenges but also provide opportunities for innovations and improved service delivery for children. In this episode of AIDS 2021, Katherine E. Bliss speaks with Dr. Catherine Ngugi, Head of the National AIDS and STI Control Program in Kenya, on how health care providers are finding ways to continue community engagement and ensure the rollout of new technologies, despite a constrained emergency environment.

In this episode of AIDS 2021, we discuss pre-exposure prophylaxis — PrEP — a critical HIV prevention tool for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in countries with high HIV burdens. Janet Fleischman speaks with Mitchell Warren, the executive director of AVAC, and two women working with Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute in South Africa – Khanyi Kwatsha, a 26-year-old PrEP ambassador, and Elmari Briedenhann, a senior project manager. They discuss the importance of PrEP for AGYW and highlight innovative approaches to better reach this group and to address the inherent challenges of meeting the needs of this population.  

In this episode of AIDS 2020, Janet Fleischman speaks with Dr. Linda-Gail Bekker, the deputy director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Center at the University of Cape Town, CEO of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, and former president of the International AIDS Society. They discuss the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the lives of adolescent girls and young women and the potential impact on the momentum of HIV prevention programs designed for this vulnerable population.

In this episode of AIDS 2020, Janet Fleischman speaks with two women in Kenya about the impact of Covid-19: Maurine Murenga, who is executive director of Lean On Me Foundation, which supports adolescent mothers living with HIV, as well as a Global Fund board member; and Brenda Ochieng, a peer mentor for Pathfinder’s DREAMS project in Mombasa, Kenya. They discuss the progress in and challenges to HIV prevention among adolescent girls and young women in Kenya, and the worsening impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on this population.

In this episode, Steve talks with Mayor Libby Schaaf, Mayor of Oakland since 2014. Oakland is a co-host of the AIDS 2020 conference this summer with San Francisco. They discuss how Oakland as a city has mobilized around and is investing in the conference, and what Mayor Schaaf wants to see emerge from AIDS2020.

In this episode of AIDS 2020, Steve and Andrew speak with Ambassador Deborah Birx, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy. Ambassador Birx has been on the front lines of the HIV/AIDS response both in the U.S. and around the world since the earliest days of the epidemic, and has led PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) for six years. She previously served as Director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Global HIV/AIDS, and as the Director of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. They discuss the work PEPFAR is doing to prioritize the health and education of young women, the need for stronger evidence and accountability in HIV programming, and making the impossible possible with diplomacy and partnerships.

In this episode, Sara talks with Deborah Waterhouse, CEO of ViiV Healthcare. They discuss how partnerships can spur innovation, what achievements we should celebrate so far in the fight against HIV, and what is needed to accelerate access globally to new HIV technology. They spoke ahead of CSIS’s October 22 conference on Improving Access to Innovative HIV Technology, which launched a paper, Evolution and Future of HIV Prevention Technology: An HIV Policy Primer.

In this episode of AIDS 2020, Sara and Andrew speak with Dr. Chris Beyrer, Desmond M. Tutu Professor of Public Health and Human Rights at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Past President of the International AIDS Society. They discuss Sara’s new commentary on World AIDS Day on the big questions facing the HIV community as it looks ahead to 2020. They also discuss the challenges of controlling HIV and reducing new infections, why we’re not reaching HIV epidemic control goals, and how a human rights approach must be central to the global response and upcoming AIDS2020 conference. 

In this episode of AIDS 2020, Steve Morrison speaks with Ernest Hopkins, of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. They explore his formative years in New York City in the 1980s, the long arc of his career as an advocate and activist on HIV in the United States, how activism has shaped the HIV response.  

In this episode, Steve and Andrew are joined by Dr. Robert Redfield, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They discuss his decades-long personal and professional engagement in battling HIV/AIDS, the US plan to end HIV/AIDS in the United States by 2030 — including the challenges it faces — and the special contributions of the International AIDS Conferences reaching back all the way to the mid-1980s.

In this episode of AIDS 2020, Steve speaks with Tori Cooper at the eighth Annual Atlanta Summit on Global Health on advocacy. As the founder and Executive Director of Advocates for Better Care, and a black transwoman living with HIV, Tori is at the center of these issues. They discuss her life, career, leadership and the continued imperative of community advocacy in driving progress.

In this episode of AIDS 2020, Stephen Morrison speaks with Mark Heywood on whether HIV advocacy and activism still matters. As a co-founder of SECTION 27 and the Treatment Action Campaign, Mark has been an activist at the forefront of the fight against HIV/AIDS in South Africa for decades. They discuss what Mark sees as the biggest obstacles and opportunities for future HIV efforts.

In this episode, Steve Morrison, Sara Allinder, and Andrew Schwartz discuss the uncomfortable paradox surrounding South Africa’s HIV/AIDS epidemic. At the time of the interview, Steve had recently returned from a documentary filming trip to South Africa, while Sara was completing analysis based on a February 2019 visit noted in her analysis piece, The World’s Largest HIV Epidemic in Crisis: HIV in South Africa. The conversation includes a discussion of the September 2019 outbursts of xenophobic violence and targeted violence against women, and how those factor into the HIV epidemic.

In this episode, Steve Morrison, Sara Allinder, and Andrew Schwartz discuss UNAIDS and the selection of Winnie Byanyima as its new executive director. The AIDS 2020 hosts discuss what is at stake for her tenure from fixing an internal leadership crisis to redefining the organization’s role in the HIV/AIDS response amid shifts in global health priorities and calls for significant United Nations reform.

In this episode, Sara Allinder sits down with Jen Kates, Senior Vice President and Director of Global Health and HIV Policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. The two discuss the upcoming Global Fund replenishment, where Kates serves as an Alternate Board Member, and the AIDS 2020 conference, for which Kates is on the Governing Council.

In this episode, Sara Allinder speaks with Gunilla Carlsson, the acting Executive Director for Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS). The two discuss the process of finding a new Executive Director for UNAIDS, the fast track goals coming due on World AIDS Day 2020, and the state of the global HIV pandemic.

In this episode, Steve Morrison and Sara Allinder talk to Helga Ying, the Head of Local Office for the AIDS 2020 Conference. Ying discusses her career in HIV/AIDS, the bipartisanship support for HIV/AIDS, and her hopes for the conference.

In this episode, Steve Morrison and Andrew Schwartz speak with Dr. Eric Goosby, UN Special Envoy on Tuberculosis. They discuss the turbulent 1990 International AIDS Society conference in San Francisco, and the upcoming conference in San Francisco and Oakland in July 2020, thirty years later. Dr. Goosby also talks about his personal experiences as a young physician caring for patients with HIV in San Francisco during the early 1980s crisis, the lessons learned over the decades from battling infectious diseases, and the ongoing search for a cure.