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Positively Positive - Living with HIV/AIDS:
HIV/AIDS News Archive - March 2026
AIDSWatch 2026 Galvanizes Hundreds of Advocates on Capitol Hill to Demand Action on HIV Epidemic
March 31, 2026 - By AIDS United - POZ - “Progress in the fight against HIV does not happen by accident; it requires sustained political will,” says AIDS United’s Carl Baloney Jr.
AIDS United successfully concluded AIDSWatch 2026, the nation’s largest annual HIV advocacy event, bringing nearly 600 advocates from 42 states and territories to Washington, D.C. for three days of intensive policy education and direct engagement with nearly 250 Congressional offices. The event underscored the urgent need for federal action to address critical issues impacting people living with and vulnerable to HIV.
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Stephen Lewis, former Canadian ambassador to the UN and father of NDP leader Avi Lewis, dead at 88
March 31, 2026 - By CTVNews.ca Staff - CTV News - Stephen Lewis, former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations and African human rights advocate and one-time leader of the NDP in Ontario, has died. He was 88.
The Stephen Lewis Foundation announced his death on its website on Tuesday.
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Comprehensive hepatitis B virus guidelines available in Canada
March 31, 2026 - CATIE NEWS - Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE) - Canadian hepatitis B guidelines have been updated, covering screening, vaccination and treatment
This update includes new algorithms to create personalized treatment
Hepatitis B is vaccine-preventable and treatable, but there is no cure for chronic infection
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is spread through similar routes as hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV. Rates of new HBV infections continue to increase in Canada. There are approximately 262,000 people living with chronic HBV in Canada—and scientists estimate that nearly 50% of these people are not aware that they have chronic HBV. If left undiagnosed and untreated, chronic HBV can cause serious complications, including liver cancer. HBV can be detected with blood tests and treatment is available.
Canada has endorsed the World Health Organization strategy to eliminate hepatitis B virus (HBV) as a public health issue by 2030. The Public Health Agency of Canada has also developed an action plan to help reduce the spread of sexually transmitted and blood borne infections (STBBIs), and this includes HBV.
A team of leading healthcare providers and scientists from the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver (CASL) and the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada (AMMI) comprised a panel that updated the HBV guidelines.
New Access Framework for the new era of HIV prevention calls for scaled-up investments, expanded choice and sustainability to achieve 2030 targets
GENEVA, 31 March 2026 - UNAIDS - The HIV response is at a tipping point. If HIV prevention is deprioritized and defunded, gains made in stopping new HIV infections could be reversed.
With 1.3 million new HIV infections per year in both 2023 and 2024, the world remains off-track to end the pandemic. Yet, global HIV prevention targets are achievable. At the end of 2024, five countries—Lesotho, Malawi, Nepal, Rwanda and Zimbabwe—had achieved a 75% reduction in new HIV infections compared to 2010. New targets for 2030, co-developed with countries and communities, have informed the new Global AIDS Strategy 2026-2031.
The Global HIV Prevention Coalition (GPC), which was established in 2017 to strengthen and sustain political and financial commitment to primary prevention, has used these targets and the Strategy to develop the HIV Prevention 2030 Global Access Framework.
Top 5 stories on the future of HIV treatment from CROI 2026
31 March 2026 - By Roger Pebody - aidsmap - The HIV treatment landscape is changing fast. Research presented at the recent Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2026) in Denver pointed towards a future of fewer pills, less frequent dosing and new drug classes – from twice-yearly injectables to a simplified regimen for people on complex treatment. Here are five highlights.
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Gilead refuses to sell groundbreaking HIV prevention drug to MSF
March 30, 2026 - Doctors Without Borders - Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) - Blocking humanitarian organizations from accessing a medical breakthrough puts vulnerable people across the world in danger.
In an open letter published today, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) called on the US pharmaceutical corporation Gilead Sciences to immediately sell the organization the game-changing and highly effective HIV prevention medicine, lenacapavir, for use in its medical programs worldwide. Despite multiple requests, the company has refused to sell lenacapavir directly to MSF.
Lenacapavir is an injectable version of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) that only needs to be administered two times per year — something that’s especially valuable for people who face barriers accessing daily or frequent medication, like those in the humanitarian settings in which MSF operates. About 1.3 million people worldwide contract HIV every year.
“Blocking humanitarian organizations from accessing a medical breakthrough puts vulnerable people in danger,” said Dr. Tom Ellman, director of MSF’s Southern Africa Medical Unit (SAMU).
84,421 HIV cases registered: NA told
ISLAMABAD, Mar 30 (APP) - Associated Press of Pakistan - Parliamentary Secretary for Health Nelson Azeem told the National Assembly on Monday that 84,421 HIV cases had been registered in the country.
Parliamentary Secretary for Health Nelson Azeem told the National Assembly on Monday that 84,421 HIV cases had been registered in the country.
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Memories of a Long-Term Survivor
March 30, 2026 - By Christopher Reilly - POZ - Christopher Reilly found healing from childhood sexual abuse through sharing his experience.
Over 30 years have passed since I was diagnosed with AIDS. In 1991, I was shocked to learn via an article in Newsday that my former dentist, whom I had dated in the 1980s, had passed away from AIDS-related Pneumocystis pneumonia and his patients were getting tested for HIV. I went to get tested as soon as possible, and the test came back positive. For me, the news was catastrophic. I was only 26 years old.
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COVID-19 variant BA.3.2 is spreading quickly across US – a doctor explains what you need to know
March 28, 2026 - By Kyle B. Enfield - The Conversation - A variant of COVID-19 called BA.3.2, which has circulated under the radar since late 2024, is now spreading quickly across the United States.
As a pulmonary and critical care doctor, I see many patients who are at high risk for severe COVID-19 due to chronic lung disease, as well as patients living with long COVID. All of them ask me how worried they should be about new variants of the virus.
There’s no sign so far that BA.3.2, nicknamed Cicada, is any more dangerous or causes more severe disease than the variants that were circulating in the winter of 2025-26. But because it’s significantly different from them, the current COVID-19 vaccine may not be as effective against it.
OSU researchers advance drug-delivery technology with near-universal disease application
March 27, 2026 - By Molly Rosbach - OSU Today - Oregeon State University - In Hong Moulton’s lab at the Oregon State University Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine, researchers are creating delivery systems to get specially designed molecules called morpholinos directly into cells where they can block or alter the genetic expression associated with diseases.
Once researchers can unlock the right delivery method to get the molecules into targeted cells, this technology will have near-universal applications for disease treatment, from targeting the genetic mutations that cause Huntington’s disease to fighting infectious diseases like COVID-19.
A New STI is Spreading in the U.S. What You Should Know.
March 27, 2026 - Duke Global Health Institute | Duke University - A DGHI expert breaks down the risks and responses to TMvii, a newly emerging fungal infection affecting gay men in parts of the U.S.
Infectious disease experts at the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI) are working to educate doctors about a new sexually transmitted infection (STI), which recently caused an outbreak of at least 30 cases in Minnesota and has been detected in other U.S. cities.
The infection, caused by the fungus Trichophyton mentagrophytestype VII (TMvii), spreads through intimate contact and has predominately been seen among sexually active gay men. It causes painful, coin-sized rashes on the arms, buttocks, trunk, legs and genitals. While infections can be treated with oral antifungal medications, treatment can take several weeks, making fast detection of the uncommon infection critical.
Innovation at the Intersections of HIV and Brain Health
March 27, 2026 - amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research - Dr. Andrea Gramatica, VP of Research, and Dr. Kelsey Hopland, Program Officer, Research, discuss a new set of questions about cognitive conditions as people age with HIV and the possible answers found in scientific advances
Advances in antiretroviral therapy have transformed HIV from a fatal infection into a manageable chronic condition. As a result, people living with HIV are living longer than ever before—a remarkable success story for science and medicine. But longevity also brings new questions, including how HIV may interact with the biology of aging.
One area drawing growing attention is brain health. How does HIV that has been treated long-term affect cognitive aging? Could it influence the development or progression of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s?
To explore these questions, Dr. Andrea Gramatica, an immunologist and VP of Research at amfAR, and Dr. Kelsey Hopland, a neuroscientist and new Program Officer, Research, at amfAR, sat down to discuss what scientists currently understand—and what remains unknown—about the intersection of HIV and neurodegeneration.
Hunting the Hidden Virus: a new treatment for HIV infections
March 27, 2026 - By Aditi Darodkar - The Observer – Case Western Reserve University - At Case Western Reserve University, researchers have discovered an immunotherapy approach to treat Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Published in mBIO, a scientific journal by the American Academy of Microbiology, this research aims to reduce the need for lifelong AIDS medication.
For decades, AIDS, the end stage of an untreated Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection, was a fatal diagnosis. Now, thanks to antiretroviral therapy (ART), it has become a manageable chronic condition. Modern drug combinations can suppress the virus to undetectable levels, allowing people living to lead long, healthy lives without risk of transmission. However, ART does not cure AIDS and requires lifelong, strict adherence to medication along with a myriad of side effects.
The challenge lies in the virus’s ability to hide.
The untapped potential of CD8 cells: how cellular immunity may be the key to an HIV cure
27 March 2026 - By Gus Cairns - aidsmap - One in seven men living with HIV in eastern and southern Africa are unaware that they have the virus, according to research presented at the recent Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2026) in Denver, US by Dr Craig Heck of Columbia University. Younger men and those who sometimes live away from home were more likely not to know their status.
According to UNAIDS data, while 83% of adolescent girls and women on treatment in these regions had reached viral suppression in 2024, only 76% of adolescent boys and men aged 15 and older had. What’s more, in addition to starting off worse on the continuum, men also saw larger drop offs at each level, from testing to treatment to viral suppression. To reach UNAIDS 95:95:95 targets – HIV awareness, on treatment, virally suppressed – it’s crucial to close these gaps.
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AIDSWatch 2026: Highlights From the HIV Advocacy Event on the Hill
March 27, 2026 - By Trent Straube - POZ - Nearly 600 HIV activists from across the nation gathered in DC to defend progress and demand justice. [VIDEOS]
More than 600 HIV activists representing 42 states and territories gathered in the nation’s capital March 16 to 18 for AIDSWatch 2026, an annual advocacy event spearheaded by AIDS United. This year’s AIDSWatch theme was “Defending Progress, Demanding Justice.”
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Brothers Sentenced to 38 Years for $92M Black-Market HIV Drug Scheme
March 26, 2026 - By Eva Lorenz - POZ - Pharma wholesalers Patrick Boyd and Charles Boyd illegally bought and resold 28,000 bottles of HIV meds—often mislabeled and falsified.
Patrick Boyd and Charles Boyd, the owners of a Maryland-based pharmaceutical wholesaler, were sentenced to a total of 38 years in prison for distributing more than $92 million of black-market HIV medications, directly harming HIV-positive patients and putting countless others at risk.
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Sustaining HIV/AIDS treatment efforts in wake of cuts
March 25, 2026 - By Amy Roeder - Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health - When the Trump administration substantially cut funding for global health and other foreign aid programs last year, experts feared a collapse in HIV/AIDS treatment efforts. But according to Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Jeff Imai-Eaton and other experts quoted in a March 20 NPR article, the number of people dropping off treatment hasn’t been as dire as predicted—for now.
While the U.S. government has stopped publicly reporting data on HIV treatment supported by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), preliminary data that briefly appeared on a government website earlier this year suggested that treatment levels had largely been sustained, with more than 20 million still on treatment. These numbers are consistent with those reported by national HIV programs to UNAIDS and other organizations, according to the NPR article
In This Moment of Crisis, Peter Staley Urges the HIV Community to Act Together
Mar 25, 2026 - By Terri Wilder - TheBody - Longtime HIV activist Peter Staley delivered a powerful opening talk at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2026), a major scientific meeting where researchers and clinicians share the latest in HIV and infectious disease research. While CROI is largely research-focused, Staley brought an urgent activist perspective, tracing a line from ACT UP’s early fights to what he described as today’s coordinated political attacks on science—leaving a room of experts on its feet.
In this interview with Terri Wilder, M.S.W., Staley reflects on the visceral personal toll of PEPFAR cuts, the line between strategic adaptation and capitulation, and what clinicians, scientists, and the HIV community can do right now to join the broader resistance.
Peter Staley is one of the most prominent HIV activists of his generation.
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Art Dept. to Host Spring Lectures on History of HIV/AIDS
March 25, 2026 - By Katelyn Fleming - UToledo News - The University of Toledo - The University of Toledo Department of Art and its Art and Disease class will present two upcoming lectures exploring the history and societal impact of the HIV/AIDS crisis.
Both events will take place in the Center for the Visual Arts Haigh Auditorium, located on the Toledo Museum of Art Campus.
The series begins on Thursday, March 26, at 1:30 p.m., with a lecture titled, “From Death Sentence to Chronic Condition: HIV after 45 Years.” The event features guest speakers Dr. Joan M. Duggan and Susan Carter.
The United States is driving a public health emergency of international concern
March 25, 2026 - University of Ottawa - Experts call for global collaboration to mitigate the harms of US policy changes
A team of researchers has created a novel machine learning tool that's cracking open one of biology's trickiest puzzles: finding the rarest microbes on Earth. Think of it like finding a needle in a haystack, except the needle is microscopic and might hold the key to how our ecosystems work.
The tool, called ulrb, uses AI to spot these elusive microorganisms that, despite their tiny numbers, pack a serious punch in keeping our planet's ecosystems healthy. It's like having a super-smart detective that can pick out the rare gems from billions of othermicrobes.
Don Lemon to Be Honored at Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation’s New York Dinner
March 24, 2026 - By Chris Gardner - The Hollywood REPORTER - The 4th annual event, set to take place at the Rainbow Room on April 21, will be hosted by CNN’s Laura Coates and honor MAC Viva glam, ETAF’s Tim Rosta and Christie’s Marc Porter and Heather Barnhart.
The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation is finalizing the program for its 4th annual New York dinner.
With help from presenting sponsor Gilead Sciences, the event will take place at the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center and be hosted by CNN’s Laura Coates. The honoree program will fete MAC’s charitable arm, Viva Glam, veteran journalist Don Lemon, ETAF’s own Tim Rosta, and Christie’s Marc Porter and Heather Barnhart, all singled outfor their contributions to HIV/AIDS awareness and advocacy.
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Memorial to blood scandal victims gets permanent home at The University of Manchester
24 March 2026 - The University of Manchester - The University of Manchester will become the permanent home of the Infected Blood Inquiry Memorial, which honours the more than 30,000 people who were infected with HIV, Hepatitis and vCJD after receiving contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s — an event that caused profound and lasting harm to individuals, families and communities across the UK.
The agreement to house the memorial at the University follows a commitment by Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, to find a permanent and fitting home for it within the city-region. The memorial will now become part of the University’s collections, where it will be cared for as a place of remembrance, reflection and learning for generations to come.
DeSantis signs law to restore HIV medication access through June
March 24, 2026 - By Orion Rummler - The 19th - Over 10,000 HIV-positive Floridians were set to lose their medications due to changes enacted by the state health agency to cut costs.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed a bill that gives low-income Floridians three more months of access to essential HIV medication.
The bill funds the state’s AIDS drug assistance program (ADAP), which gets medications to low-income and uninsured people living with HIV. Every state has an ADAP, and due to stagnant federal funds and rising health care costs, those programs have been struggling. In Florida, over 10,000 HIV-positive people were at risk of losing access to their medications after changes enacted by the state health agency to cut costs took effect on March 1.
Severe infections may raise dementia risk, study finds
March 24, 2026- PLOS Medicine - Finnish registry study finds that infections like cystitis and bacterial disease are linked to higher dementia risk independently of other coexisting conditions
Severe infections increase the risk of dementia independently of other coexisting illnesses, according to a new study published March 24th in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Pyry Sipilä of the University of Helsinki, Finland, and colleagues.
Severe infections have been linked to an increased risk of dementia. However, it has been unclear whether this association is explained by other coexisting, non-infectious diseases that predispose people to both infections and dementia.
SAMRC to host global Outcomes Finance Alliance summit to advance innovative health financing in South Africa
March 24, 2026 - South African Medical Research Council | SAMRC - The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), together with the Presidency of South Africa’s Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, will host the Outcome Finance Alliance (OFA) summit from 25–27 March, bringing together global and local partners to advance the use of Outcomes-Based Financing (OBF) in addressing South Africa’s most pressing health and development challenges.
The OFA objective is to design and test strategies to make pay-for-success financing instruments a cost-effective and scalable proposition to support development agencies and governments to deliver on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Positive Work To Address HIV/AIDS in Georgia
March 23, 2026 - The Borgen Project - Georgia has historically reported low rates of HIV, and new infections are concentrated among the most at-risk groups, such as men who have sex with men (MSM) and those who inject drugs. In 2024, Georgia passed legislation that limits queer individuals’ access to essential health services and therefore threatens the progress made to raise awareness, testing, treating and preventing HIV/AIDS. This important work now falls to community organizations such as Equality Movement and Tanadgoma, who are supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and continue their life-saving work to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS in Georgia among vulnerable and impoverished groups.
U.S. Business Action to End HIV Honors Congressional Champions on Capitol Hill
March 20, 2026 - Health Action Alliance - The Coalition honored four lawmakers for their bipartisan commitment to sustaining federal investment in HIV prevention and treatment programs.
On March 17, the U.S. Business Action to End HIV team traveled to Capitol Hill to personally present our inaugural Champion Awards to four lawmakers who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in the fight to end HIV in the United States. The awards recognize Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Susan Collins (R-ME), and Representative Mark Pocan (D-WI) for their bipartisan commitment to sustaining federal investment in HIV prevention and treatment programs.
European Region misses 1 in 5 TB cases: WHO Europe and ECDC publish new joint surveillance report
Copenhagen and Stockholm, 20 March 2026 - European Centre for Disease Prevention (ECDC) - The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe today published the joint report ‘Tuberculosis Surveillance and Monitoring in Europe 2026’.
The report reveals that the European Region, covering 53 countries across Europe and Central Asia, including the 30 countries of the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA), continues to fall short of regional and global End TB milestones on two fronts: a persistent detection challenge, with one in five TB cases going undiagnosed or unreported, and drug-resistance levels that remain far higher than in other regions. These twin crises are inseparable. People who are diagnosed late have a higher chance of transmitting TB to others and are harder to treat. More TB transmission may result in high numbers of people with treatment failure, which is a primary driver of resistance. Closing the detection gap and tackling drug resistance are not parallel priorities, but part of the same fight.
Continuing a tradition of service: New award empowers commitment to rural family medicine
March 20, 2016 - By Emma Jones- Defy Gravity Campaign - University of Toronto - For James Conway, family doctors are lifelines for remote and underserved communities where access to care can mean the difference between thriving and surviving. It’s a reality he understands deeply, and one that inspired him to turn gratitude into action.
James created the Denis M G Conway Award for Family Medicine at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine in memory of his late brother, Denis Conway (MD 1977), a physician who dedicated much of his career to providing care in towns, communities and in remote areas across Canada and around the world. The award will be given to graduating U of T medical students who have an interest in pursuing rural medicine or practicing in a smaller city or town in Ontario.
Why some people naturally control HIV even after stopping therapy — and how we can leverage that to treat others
SAN FRANCISCO - 20-MAR-2026 - Gladstone Institutes - New research offers a path toward life without daily HIV pills, suggesting common diabetes pill could help achieve long-term remission.
For millions of people living with HIV, a daily regimen of medications is a lifelong necessity. If they stop taking the drugs—commonly referred to as antiretroviral therapy—the virus usually rushes back within weeks.
But not for everyone; scientists have been baffled by rare individuals who, after stopping the drug regimen, keep the virus under control for months or even years.
“Strikingly, a small number of people rebound much more slowly and take multiple months or even longer to rebound,” says Nadia Roan, PhD, senior investigator at Gladstone Institutes.
In a study published in the journal Immunity, Roan and her team begin to reveal why that is—and in doing so, uncover possible new paths toward long-term health for people living with HIV without the need for antiretroviral therapy.
HIV-AIDS denialism on the rise
March 20, 2026 - CTV News - HIV/AIDS denialism is making a comeback. Jonathan Jarry of the Office for Science and Society looks at what is behind this new round of misinformation.
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Study: Antibiotics can disrupt gut microbiome for years
March 20, 2026 - By Anthony Stitt - Healio - The greatest impact on gut species occurred within 1 year of taking antibiotics.
A researcher said the study shows “the strongest evidence” of how antibiotics alter the gut microbiome.
Antibiotics have an enduring impact on the gut microbiome, causing disturbances that can last up to 8 years, according to a study of nearly 15,000 people published in Nature Medicine.
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HIV/AIDS Denialism Is Back, Courtesy of Joe Rogan
19 Mar 2026 - By Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. - McGill University - The debunked theory that the “gay lifestyle” causes AIDS was endorsed on the world’s biggest podcast.
Joe Rogan, the most influential podcaster globally, is an HIV-AIDS denialist. Imagine the backlash if the six o’clock news were espousing this decades-old, harmful pseudoscience front and centre. Rogan’s audience is by far larger—he is the mainstream media—and he is teaching a generation of young adults that HIV is a harmless virus.
I didn’t discover this fact on my own; I heard it on The Know Rogan Experience, co-hosted by my friend and fellow skeptic, Michael Marshall. He and Cecil Cicirello listen to and criticize Rogan’s own popular show, much like how Knowledge Fight covers Alex Jones’ dying InfoWars (Jones says it’s coming to an end mid-April, finally).
HIV-AIDS denialism is making a comeback. A history lesson is in order.
Bacterial meningitis is deadly, but can also have life-altering long-term effects – new study
March 19, 2026 - The Conversation - Bacterial meningitis is once again in global headlines, with recent cases linked to the University of Otago in New Zealand and a fast-growing outbreak at the University of Kent in England.
Bacterial meningitis is well known as an acute, deadly illness. The World Health Organization estimates about one in six infected people will die – even with prompt medical care and antibiotic treatment.
While this frightening statistic makes headlines, less well understood is what happens to those who survive this highly contagious infectious disease.
Much of the existing research on bacterial meningitis tends to follow a similar pattern, focused on the acute phase when people are hospitalised and receiving treatment.
‘Echoes’ Envisions Restoration, Expansion of Toronto AIDS Memorial
March19, 2026 - By Anthony Teles - URBAN TORONTO - A community-led proposal is aiming to reshape the future of Barbara Hall Park in Toronto's Church-Wellesley Village, as concerns grow over the treatment of the AIDS Memorial within the City’s ongoing redesign process. Developed independently by members of Toronto’s HIV-positive community, the ‘Echoes’ initiative positions the memorial as the defining element of the park, responding to criticism that recent plans have diminished its visibility and meaning. Backed by a coalition of HIV/AIDS organizations across Ontario, the proposal combines spatial design and interpretive strategies aimed at restoring the site’s role as a place of remembrance while strengthening its relevance for people living with HIV today.
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Why The Elton John AIDS Foundation’s Real Superpower Is Scaling Impact
March19, 2026 - By Jeetendr Sehdev - Forbes - Most Oscars parties are about being seen. The Elton John AIDS Foundation’s Oscars party is about what happens because of it — as a result, I’d say, it’s the most important part of Oscars night.
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National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2026
March 19, 2026 - By Trent Straube - POZ - This year’s theme is “From Ceremony to Action: Renewal, Respect and Collective Strength.” #NNHAAD is observed the first day of spring.
Friday, March 20, marks National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (#NNHAAD), which is observed each year on the first day of spring. Launched in 2007, this awareness day is an opportunity to educate Native people about HIV and AIDS, shine a light on the health disparities facing these populations and to honor and uplift those lost to the epidemic as well as those working to end HIV.
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amfAR Announces Formation of Research Council to Guide Future Research Investments
NEW YORK, March 19, 2026 - amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research - Leaders at the forefront of science, including two Nobel Prize laureates, will offer expertise and recommendations on priority, scope, and innovative approaches to amfAR’s research pipeline
Building on its rich history of scientific discovery that has revolutionized the treatment and prevention of HIV and benefited diseases beyond the virus, amfAR announced today the launch of a new advisory group to ensure its research portfolio remains cutting-edge, impactful and relevant to amfAR’s mission to save lives and improve global health.
The amfAR Research Council (aRC) will help guide the strategic direction of future research funding investments across HIV, virology, immunology, and AI-enabled science. All funded work, whether directly focused on HIV or in adjacent fields, must demonstrate how it can inform, strengthen, or accelerate HIV cure strategies and improve outcomes for people living with HIV.
U.S. Government Reaffirms Commitment to Jamaica’s HIV Response with Handover of Medical Field Visit Kits
March 19, 2026 - By U.S. Embassy in Kingston - U.S. Embassy in Jamaica - Charge d’Affaires (CdA) Scott Renner participated in a high-profile site visit and official handover ceremony at the Centre for HIV/AIDS and Research Education and Services (CHARES), located at the University of the West Indies. The event marked the official delivery of medical field visit kits, which were procured with U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) funding through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Valued at $23,000 USD, eighteen kits were procured and distributed at CHARES and the Southeast Regional Health Authority and the Southern Regional Health Authority which benefits all parishes across these two health regions. These kits are specifically designed to empower clinicians to conduct home visits for clients who are unable to attend traditional clinic appointments, ensuring they remain compliant with medical schedules and lifesaving HIV treatment.
Ancient ‘syphilis-like’ disease in Vietnam challenges long-held assumptions on congenital infection
18 March 2026 - CSU News - Charles Sturt University - A discovery by a Charles Sturt University researcher and colleagues has implications for one of the most enduring debates in medical history: the origin of syphilis
The study highlights the growing challenges facing scientists studying ancient pathogens
Understanding the complex history of treponemal diseases is essential to understanding how infectious diseases shaped human history
The findings of a new study by a Charles Sturt University researcher and colleagues challenges a long-standing assumption used by scientists studying ancient disease.
The new research analysing the skeletal remains of children from prehistoric Vietnam suggests that congenital transmission of treponemal disease, that of mother to child, and historically assumed to indicate venereal syphilis, may have occurred in other forms of the disease thousands of years ago.
Reclaiming Sex and Intimacy While Living With HIV
March 18, 2026 - By Tim Murphy - TheBody - For 25 years after her HIV diagnosis, Tana Pradia didn’t date. The vice chair of the board for Positive Women’s Network-USA (PWN-USA) and the co-founder of its Texas chapter, Pradia, 65, says that the main reason for the dry spell was trauma from a relationship with a physically abusive man who, she says, gave her HIV deliberately so that she wouldn’t leave him.
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Landmark South African study shows HPV vaccination protects girls living with HIV
18 March 2026 - Wits University - New research shows first population-level evidence globally that a national HPV vaccination programme can be highly effective in a high HIV-prevalence setting.
In South Africa, where the burden of HIV remains high, women living with HIV face a disproportionately increased risk of cervical cancer, around six times higher than women without HIV. This heightened risk is driven by persistent infection with high-risk strains of human papillomavirus (HPV). In settings where access to HPV vaccination, cervical screening and treatment is uneven, the impact on women’s health and lives is profound.
New research published in The Lancet Global Health provides the first population-level evidence globally that a national HPV vaccination programme can be highly effective in a high HIV-prevalence setting.
The study was led by researchers from Wits RHI at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University) in partnership with the Kirby Institute (University of New South Wales).
Americans are losing HIV care. The Real Housewives want you to know about it.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 18, 2026 - By Orion Rummler, Marissa Martinez. - The 19th - Thousands of low-income Americans with HIV are losing access to vital medications, as states grapple with a lack of federal dollars to support their state health budgets.
The Real Housewives would like a word with Congress about it.
Stars from the shows —including Atlanta’s Nene Leakes, Maryland local Candiace Dillard Bassett and New York’s Luann de Lesseps —took to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to advocate for HIV prevention and expanding access to care. Many Housewives are beloved by the LGBTQ+ community, a reputation that some of them actively encourage.
As World Tuberculosis Day 2026 approaches, an international group of authors describe how ending tuberculosis requires a whole-of-society approach, more effectively engaging policymakers, funding bodies and affected communities along with doctors and researchers
March 18, 2026 - PLOS Global Public Health - Pursuing policymakers, payors and public – expanding the beginning and end of the tuberculosis care cascade to reflect whole-of-society ambitions.
UNAIDS is deeply concerned about the impact of the harshening of a law against LGBTQ people in Senegal
GENEVA/DAKAR, 18 March 2026 - UNAIDS - UNAIDS urges the President not to sign the Bill and calls on Senegal to safeguard life-saving health services including HIV prevention, treatment and care.
On 12 March 2026, the Parliament of Senegal voted overwhelmingly to impose harsher penalties for “unnatural acts” including homosexuality and promoting or encouraging homosexuality. UNAIDS is deeply concerned about the implications for the country's public health achievements and urges the President not to sign the Bill.
Sheryl Lee Ralph on the ‘Uptick’ in Women of Color Contracting HIV: ‘It Is Something That Needs to Be Paid Attention to’
17 March 2026 - By Rance Collins - Variety - The ‘Abbott Elementary’ star attended Elton John’s annual Oscar viewing party on Sunday
For more than 40 years, Sheryl Lee Ralph has been on the frontlines helping raise funds and awareness in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
She continued that work Sunday night as a guest at the Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards viewing party.
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Communication Professor Behind Public Talk on AIDS Activism
March 17, 2026 - CSUSM NewsCenter - Cal State San Marcos communication professor Andrew Spieldenner is part of a group hosting a meeting in San Diego next week about the history and future of AIDS activism.
The public talk, titled “Knowledge of AIDS: Civic Participation and Activism,” will take place on Wednesday, March 25 from 5:30-7 p.m. at the San Diego LGBT Community Center, 3909 Centre St.
Senator Collins Honored for Her Work to Support HIV/AIDS Prevention and Research
March 17, 2026 - WASHINGTON, D.C. - Susan Collins - Today, U.S. Business Action to End HIV presented U.S. Senator Susan Collins with its 2025 Champion Award. The award was conferred in recognition of her leadership and commitment to ending HIV in the U.S. and internationally, and her ongoing dedication to strengthening America’s public health system through increased federal funding. Caroline Jackson of Falmouth, the Director of U.S. Business Action to End HIV, presented Senator Collins with the award.
The Reunion Project LTS Toolkit Series Webinar: Reclaiming Your Vitality
March 17, 2026 - Understanding Hormone Health, Testosterone, and Aging with HIV
March 25, 2026 | 12:00 – 1:30 PM ET | Virtual Webinar
A VIRTUAL DISCUSSION FESATURING LONG-TERM SURVIVOR NELSON VERGEL, AUTHOR OF “BUILT TO SURVIVE AND TESTOSTERONE: A MAN’S GUIDE”
This webinar is free, open to all, and hosted by The Reunion Project as part of our ongoing commitment to supporting the health and wholeness of long-term HIV survivors.
Trump admin threatens to withhold HIV medication to Zambia unless demands are met, report says
17 March 2026 - By Owen Scott - The Independent - Zambia has received more than $6 billion in HIV/AIDS over the last two decades, according to the US Embassy in Zambia
The Trump administration is considering cutting HIV relief to Zambia if the country fails to meet a list of demands, according to a new report.
Key to those demands is the U.S. receiving more access to Zambia’s natural minerals, according to The New York Times.
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HIV activists stage mock funeral to spotlight Trump’s deadly federal funding cuts
The threat of losing access to HIV medication under the Trump administration has many concerned with their own mortality.
Mar 17, 2026 - By Jacob Ogles - ADVOCATE - Pallbearers held black coffins on their shoulders and walked through the ballroom at a Virginia hotel on Monday afternoon. A large banner with a red ribbon reminded of the stakes of HIV, even in an era of medical advancement.
This wasn’t a funeral for the already fallen, but for those living with HIV amid fears federal funding cuts could end their journeys too soon. Many took to the makeshift pulpit to read their own pre-death obituaries and warn of the consequences of starving efforts like PEPFAR and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program of resources.
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Advocates worry Toronto's AIDS memorial may fade away with city's renovation plans
TORONTO - March 16, 2026 - By Rianna Lim - The Canadian Press - At a downtown Toronto park, 14 unassuming concrete pillars stand in a semicircle between an off-leash dog area, a splash pad and a walking path. Each pillar has a plaque engraved with hundreds of names. A couple of them have been vandalized.
This is one of the biggest AIDS memorials in Canada. But many people who walk through Barbara Hall Park wouldn’t know it due to its deteriorating condition after years of neglect, says David, a member of the city’s HIV-positive community.
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Community-based integrated care for HIV, diabetes and hypertension safely expands access while easing pressure on health facilities in sub-Saharan Africa
Entebbe, 13 March 2026 - MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit - Health systems in sub-Saharan Africa could safely expand access to chronic disease care by delivering integrated services in communities, according to a new multi-country clinical trial. The study found that community-based management of HIV, diabetes and hypertension achieved clinical outcomes comparable to facility-based care while improving access and convenience for patients.
The findings come from the ‘Integrated community-based versus integrated facility-based care for people living with HIV, diabetes or hypertension (INTE-COMM) trial’, a cluster-randomised study conducted in Uganda and Tanzania and published in The Lancet. The trial shows that integrated care delivered at the community level can maintain clinical outcomes comparable to facility-based integrated care for clinically stable patients with diabetes and/or hypertension, without compromising HIV care. These results build on earlier evidence from the INTE-AFRICA trial, which demonstrated that integrating HIV, diabetes, and hypertension services within health facilities maintained high-quality care while reducing service duplication and patient costs.
Uncovering HIV’s hidden loop: New finding offers hope for future treatments
March 13, 2026 - Karen Guzman - Yale News - Yale University - A Yale team has identified a type of RNA that boosts the replication of HIV, an unexpected discovery that changes how scientists understand the virus and how it may one day be stopped.
For decades scientists have recognized that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a formidable viral pathogen. After years of probing work and extensive experimentation, a Yale research team has unlocked one of the reasons why that is.
In a new study, the lab led by immunologist Grace Chen discovered that HIV produces a circular RNA (circRNA) that helps the virus turn on its genes and replicate more efficiently. The discovery, which the researchers dubbed “circHIV,” could represent a new target for future HIV therapies.
The findings, described in the journal Nature Microbiology, follow a long journey for Chen, an assistant professor of immunobiology and of genetics at Yale School of Medicine. Her lab studies circRNAs, which differ from typical or linear RNAs in that they lack distinct, functional “ends.” Unlike linear RNA, loop-shaped circRNAs are very stable.
Monthly HIV Injections More Effective Than Daily Pills for People Struggling with Treatment Adherence
March 13, 2026 - By Kelsea Pieters - CU Anschutz News | University of Colorado Anschutz - Study finds long-acting injectable therapy significantly reduces treatment failure compared to standard oral medication
A new clinical trial has found that monthly injectable HIV treatment works better than daily pills for people living with HIV who have difficulty consistently taking oral medication.
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, tested a long-acting injectable regimen in people whose HIV was not well controlled due to challenges sticking to daily treatment. The trial, known as LATITUDE, provides some of the strongest evidence to date that monthly injections can improve outcomes in this high-risk group.
“For some people living with HIV, taking a pill every single day is a major challenge,” said Kristina Brooks, PharmD, University of Colorado Anschutz Skaggs School of Pharmacy assistant professor and study co-author. “This trial shows that a monthly injectable option can significantly reduce the risk of treatment failure for those who need a different approach.”
Orphaned by War at age 11, a Global-Health Researcher Builds a Support System for Ugandan Youth Affected by HIV/AIDS
March 13, 2026 - NYU News - New York University - Fred Ssewamala returns to the community of his birth to nurture hope for poor orphans and their extended families
Known affectionately as “Dr. Fred” around the halls of New York University’s Silver School of Social Work where he teaches, Fred Ssewamala leads a researcher’s life rooted in purpose. Eight or nine times a year, he makes the 24-hour journey to the tiny Ugandan village where he was born—a rural community 19 miles north of the capital of Kampala—to confront a crisis he knows intimately.
As the founder of the International Center for Child Health and Development (ICHAD), Ssewamala has spent 20 years developing and deploying a triad of support that integrates mental health, medication adherence, and economic empowerment. The interventions are designed with one overarching goal: to improve the odds for youth who live with HIV and have lost one or both of their biological parents to the disease.
House of Ruth Opens Apartment Complex for People Affected by HIV in Kentucky
March 13, 2026, - By Trent Straube - POZ - The 40-unit complex in Louisville, Kentucky, includes a food pantry and supportive services for people with HIV. Conference.
In its largest project to date, the nonprofit House of Ruth opened a three-story, housing complex dubbed the Red Key Landing for people affected by HIV in Louisville, Kentucky, reports WDRB.com. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held this week with city officials and guests.
House of Ruth has provided housing and support for people affected by HIV since its founding in 1992.
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Gallery: 2026 Dance Marathon raises HIV/AIDS awareness through performance-filled night
March 13, 2026 - By By Leydi Cris Cobo Cordon, Holden Yung, Joshua Neira - DAILY BRUIN - The Pediatric AIDS Coalition held its annual Dance Marathon from 2 p.m. to midnight Saturday to support pediatric AIDS research and treatment. The coalition has raised over $6 million since the fundraiser’s debut in 2002. Attendees took to Ackerman Grand Ballroom dressed as sea creatures and surgeons for the first of many theme shifts throughout the performance-filled night.
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HIV heart inflammation is mediated by HIV infected myeloid cells, HIV-tat secretion, and aberrant function of Connexin43-containing channels
13 March 2026 - Nature - Abstract
People living with HIV (PLWH) have a 2 times higher risk of HIV-associated cardiovascular disease (HIV-CVD) compared to people without HIV, despite effective anti-retroviral therapy (ART), but the mechanism is unknown. Here, we demonstrated the presence of myeloid cells containing HIV DNA sequences (HIV+) in human ventricular heart tissues from people with HIV in the ART era. HIV+ cells show residual HIV-Tat expression that is associated with upregulation of Connexin43 (Cx43) expression, gap junctional communication, and hemichannel (HC) activity. HIV-Tat binds to the Cx43 promoter, increasing Cx43 mRNA and protein expression. Cx43 enhanced expression by HIV-Tat was localized in the intercalated disk, as well as in the lateral membrane of cardiomyocytes, resulting in Cx43-containing HC openings and release of PGE2 and ATP, as well as facilitating the secretion of inflammatory cytokines. Overall, our data demonstrated that HIV+ cells, even during ART, secrete HIV-Tat, compromising GJ and HC-mediated communication and promoting localized inflammation, which could contribute to arrhythmia..
A New Method Produces CAR-T Cells to Keep Fighting Disease Longer
March 13, 2026—(BRONX, NY) - Strategy May Bolster Blood Cancer Therapy and Move HIV Research Closer to a Cure
A research team led by Albert Einstein College of Medicine scientists has developed a new strategy to engineer immune cells that dramatically prolongs their effectiveness after being infused into patients to fight cancer and HIV, addressing a major limitation of current treatments. Their findings, published today in Science Advances, describe a manufacturing approach that, compared to the existing process, generates longer-lasting immune cells that provide more sustained control of human blood cancers and suppression of HIV-infection in mouse models.
“Our goal was to engineer therapeutic immune cells so they would not only be powerful killers but also long-lived and capable of self-renewal, to markedly extend their effectiveness after infusion into patients,” said senior author Harris Goldstein, M.D., professor of pediatrics and of microbiology & immunology and director of the Einstein-Rockefeller-CUNY-Mount Sinai Center for AIDS Research. “By improving how we generate CAR-T cells, a treatment that acts as a ‘living drug,’ we would prolong their functional activity and prevent disease relapse after their potency wanes.” Dr. Goldstein also holds the Charles Michael Chair in Autoimmune Diseases at Einstein.
Younger, mobile men especially likely to not know they have HIV in eastern and southern Africa
13 March 2026 - By Krishen Samuel - aidsmap - One in seven men living with HIV in eastern and southern Africa are unaware that they have the virus, according to research presented at the recent Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2026) in Denver, US by Dr Craig Heck of Columbia University. Younger men and those who sometimes live away from home were more likely not to know their status.
According to UNAIDS data, while 83% of adolescent girls and women on treatment in these regions had reached viral suppression in 2024, only 76% of adolescent boys and men aged 15 and older had. What’s more, in addition to starting off worse on the continuum, men also saw larger drop offs at each level, from testing to treatment to viral suppression. To reach UNAIDS 95:95:95 targets – HIV awareness, on treatment, virally suppressed – it’s crucial to close these gaps..
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Alberta scientists study incomplete immunologic recovery in some people with HIV who have viral suppression
March 12, 2026 - CATIE NEWS - Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE) - The ratio of CD4+ to CD8+ blood cells is one marker of immune health in people living with HIV
Among some people on effective HIV treatment, this ratio does not always return to normal
An Alberta study of 2,179 people identified underlying factors that contribute to a lower ratio
In 1981, doctors in the United States reported increasing numbers of people with severe, sometimes life-threatening infections with no obvious underlying cause. This condition was later named AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). In that era, many affected people were young gay and bisexual men whose levels of T cells were mysteriously depleted. By 1983, scientists at the Pasteur Institute in Paris had isolated a virus that is now called HIV. A critical aspect of HIV infection is that this virus directly and indirectly attacks T cells, specifically a subgroup called CD4+ T cells.
Reunion Project looks to inspire next generation of people living with HIV
March 11, 2026 - By Alec Karam - WINDY CITY TIMES - The Reunion Project met in Chicago to unite long-term HIV survivors and allies to find connection and support through a weekend of panels designed to instill community across generations.
“We want to bring people together to show their stories of survival and resilience,” said Reunion Project Executive Director Jeff Berry. “There’s hope in community, and there’s strength in community, and there’s love in community.”..
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Building protection against infectious diseases with nanostructured vaccines
(BOSTON) Mar. 11, 2026 - By Benjamin Boettner - Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University - Wyss Institute’s DoriVac combined vaccine and adjuvant technology uses nanoscale precision enabled by DNA origami to induce broad immunity against infectious viruses
The COVID-19 pandemic brought messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines to the forefront of global health care. After their clinical trial stages, the first COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was administered on 8 December 2020 and mathematical models suggest that mRNA vaccines prevented at least 14.4 million deaths from COVID-19 in the first year alone. Their extraordinary effectiveness in having softened the blow of the disease, has led to the development of mRNA vaccines to also combat other infectious pathogens. Clinical trials for influenza virus, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), HIV, Zika, Epstein-Barr virus, and tuberculosis bacteria are all on the way. Importantly, however, COVID-19 research has revealed shortcomings of mRNA vaccines that highlight the need for different approaches.
A little-known respiratory virus, human metapneumovirus, surging in Northern California
(SACRAMENTO) March 10, 2026 - By Public Affairs - UC Davis Health - Young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems face the greatest risk of serious illness
If you came down with a respiratory infection this spring that wasn’t the flu or COVID-19, it may have been a virus you’ve never heard of: Human metapneumovirus or HMPV.
The virus was first discovered in 2001 but is less well known than its viral relative, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). Both are in the Pneumoviridae family.
HMPV is seasonal — like the annual flu — and it is currently spiking in the U.S., according to the National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS), which monitors viral activity.
HIV in Malawi: digital filing system saved lives and boosted care – research
March 10, 2026 - The Conversation - In the global fight against HIV/Aids, one of the most exciting innovations is not a new drug, but a better filing system.
This is what we’re seeing in Malawi, one of the most HIV-affected countries in the world. About 7% of the population there live with the virus.
The country is one of the few meeting the United Nations 95-95-95 targets (95% of people living with HIV are diagnosed, 95% of those diagnosed are treated, and 95% of those on treatment have a viral load below 200 copies per millilitre). Sustaining this progress is a massive challenge in large clinics, and requires not only medical staff and supplies but efficient management of patient data.
Wistar Scientists Develop Two-Vaccine Strategy to Fight T Cell Lymphoma
PHILADELPHIA — (MAR. 10, 2026) - The Wistar Institute -T cell lymphomas are notoriously difficult to treat because immunotherapy, despite being one of the most effective therapies for treating cancer, can’t easily distinguish cancerous T cells from healthy ones. Now, scientists at The Wistar Institute have designed a two-vaccine approach that not only targets the tumors’ unique molecular identity but counters the evasion strategy the cancer employs in response. Their findings, published in Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy, demonstrate that combining a vaccine targeting the cancer’s T cell receptors (TCR) with a second vaccine targeting cancer-specific mutations significantly improves tumor control and survival in preclinical models. The approach offers hope for treating one of oncology’s most intractable blood cancers.
New Frontiers in HIV Cure Science
9-Mar-2026 - by UNC Health - UNC Health - In a new chapter of global HIV cure science, Cindy Gay, MD, MPH, a researcher at the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases and the UNC HIV Cure Center, has launched one clinical trial, and plans to start the second in the next few months, designed to make infected cells visible to targeted immune clearing strategies.
“This is a moment of real momentum,” said Dr. Gay, professor of medicine in infectious diseases. We’re testing two promising approaches to expose and clear the HIV reservoir, and we’re doing it with partners who bring tremendous expertise. Each will bring us closer to understanding how HIV might one day be controlled without daily therapy.”
In My Day revisits the first years of BC’s HIV/AIDS crisis through real voices and stories
March 9, 2026 - All Points West - CBC - In the mid-1980s, an HIV diagnosis was often a death sentence. For fifteen years, communities in Vancouver and Victoria fought a battle that changed our province forever. “In My Day” is a play built from the real words of people who were there. It opens at UVic’s Phoenix Theatre later this week. Playwright Rick Waines and actor Elliot Baskin Smith spoke with guest host Kathryn Marlow.
Listen...
Despite high risks of HIV, condom use low among displaced youths in Uganda
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - March 9, 2026 - By Sharita Forrest - News Bureau, University of Illinois - While the rate of HIV in Kampala, Uganda, is more than double the national average, a recent survey of displaced youths in the city found that only about 20% consistently used condoms and just half of the study participants had been tested for HIV in the past year.
Moses Okumu, a professor of social work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, led the study, which included more than 330 young people ages 16-24 who were living in one of five informal settlements.
“Our findings show that both past-year access to HIV self-test kits, HIV testing and consistent condom use remain markedly below national and international targets, despite respondents reporting moderate condom-use self-efficacy,” Okumu said.
ECDC AND AFRICA CDC STRENGTHEN JOINT COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY
Stockholm, 9 March, 2026 - European Centre for Disease Prevention (ECDC) - MoU signing deepens inter-continental partnership
Today, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC, and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Africa CDC, signed their first Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen health security in Africa and Europe.
The Memorandum was signed by ECDC Director Pamela Rendi-Wagner and H.E. Dr Jean Kaseya, Director General of Africa CDC during a 2-day visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by Dr Rendi-Wagner and a team of ECDC experts.
The Memorandum formalises a decade of collaboration and close partnership between the two agencies in areas critical to global health. The Memorandum establishes a framework for enhanced collaboration in the areas of disease surveillance, risk assessment, and emergency preparedness and response and will include joint actions in areas such as antimicrobial resistance, vaccine-preventable diseases, and emerging and re-emerging health threats. It will also support collaboration on data analytics, modelling and foresight, laboratory capabilities, workforce development and public health training.
Global Virus Network opens International Headquarters at University of South Florida
March 9, 2026 - By Nora Samaranayake - USF Health - University of South Florida - Today, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC, and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Africa CDC, signed their first Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen health security in Africa and Europe.
The Memorandum was signed by ECDC Director Pamela Rendi-Wagner and H.E. Dr Jean Kaseya, Director General of Africa CDC during a 2-day visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by Dr Rendi-Wagner and a team of ECDC experts.
HIV Stigma Is Common and Increasing; Here’s How That’s Harmful
March 8, 2026 - By Trent Straube - POZ - What’s more, most HIV stigma is based on fear and blame, finds a new report from the Williams Institute.
HIV-related stigma in the United States is not only widespread but also growing—and it affects the health and well-being of people living with HIV, including leading to unjust HIV crime laws, according to the results of a study by the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.
Notably, the report found that 43% of U.S. adults held at least one stigmatizing belief about people with HIV in 2024—an increase from 31% in 2021.
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International Women’s Day: Rights, justice, and action for women and girls
GENEVA, 6 March - UNAIDS - Globally, in 2024, around 4,000 adolescent girls and young women newly acquired HIV every week—3,300 of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa, where women and girls make up around two in every three new HIV infections.
The statistics do not end there.
Nearly one in four adolescent girls experiences physical or sexual violence before the age of 20.
According to UNFPA, fewer than half of women globally are able to make their own decisions about sex, contraception and health care.
Punitive laws continue to fuel the HIV epidemic and undermine sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Such inequality is not a law of nature, it is a consequence.
This is what happens when women and girls are denied rights and denied justice.
Jesse Jackson’s Early HIV/AIDS Advocacy Transformed The Course Of The Disease
Mar 06, 2026 - By Joshua P. Cohen - Forbes - Speakers at the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s celebration of life in Chicago on Friday will certainly reflect on his civil rights, religious and political leadership. But one of Jackson’s most important legacies was raising awareness around the HIV/AIDS epidemic at a time when it was a taboo topic in political circles.
His advocacy began shortly after the disease emerged in the early 1980s. Jackson, who died Feb. 17 at age 84, led a push for more funding for research on prevention and treatment.
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US measles total approaches 1,300 infections
March 6, 2026 - By Jim Wappes - CIDRAP - Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy - University of Minnesota - The US measles count climbed by 145 today, reaching 1,281 cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its weekly update, with cases in Texas now approaching 100.
For all of last year US officials confirmed 2,258 infections, a number the nation appears on pace to surpass this year. The Pan American Health Organization recently announcedit has pushed back its decision on whether the country loses its measles elimination status—which it gained in 2000—to November, after the midterm elections.
New antiretrovirals in the pipeline could be part of twice-yearly HIV treatment
6 March 2026 - By Liz Highleyman - aidsmap - Three experimental injectable antiretrovirals – a novel capsid inhibitor and two next-generation integrase inhibitors – could be components of future long-acting HIV treatment regimens, according to study results presented last week at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2026) in Denver.
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New tracking tool reveals how T cells adapt in different organs
March 5, 2026 - by Daniel Mucida - The Rockefeller University - A new tool called TRACK allows scientists to closely follow newly activated T cells as they travel and change during an infection.
The system can be used to study infectious disease, cancer, autoimmune conditions, and responses to vaccines.
Mapping how T cells behave in different tissues may help researchers design strategies to precisely redirect immune function to where it’s needed.
Our immune system relies on T cells to fight infections. But T cells don’t just show up and react—first, they train, get a game plan, and coordinate their defenses in lymphoid organs.
Researchers have struggled to understand how this counteroffensive evolves across these sites. Now, a new tool from researchers at The Rockefeller University and Biohub allows scientists to permanently tag recently activated T cells with a fluorescent protein to track how they travel and change during an infection. The system, recently described in Nature Immunology, makes it possible to precisely characterize the T cells that respond to a specific threat and understand how their location shapes them.
South Africa launches bid to enable local production of long-acting HIV prevention drug, lenacapavir
05 March 2026 - Unitaid - Unitaid and USP provide technical and market support to strengthen regional manufacturing and supply resilience
The Government of South Africa today announced that it is engaging with Gilead Sciences to pursue an agreement that would enable local production of lenacapavir, a revolutionary long-acting HIV prevention drug. As part of this effort, and in collaboration with Unitaid, USP and other partners, the government has published a call for expression of Interest that would assist in identifying South African pharmaceutical manufacturers capable of producing quality-assured lenacapavir.
Originally developed by Gilead, lenacapavir is a twice-yearly injection that has demonstrated near-complete effectiveness in preventing HIV. It is widely considered one of the most promising new tools to reduce infections, particularly in high-burden countries.
In October 2024, Gilead granted six voluntary licenses to generic manufacturers across Egypt, India, and Pakistan, allowing them to produce and supply generic lenacapavir to 120 low- and middle-income countries, an important step toward expanding access.
13 HIV/AIDS activists arrested on Capitol Hill
March 5, 2026 - By Michael K. Lavers - Washington Blade - Protesters demanded full PEPFAR funding
U.S. Capitol Police on Thursday arrested 13 HIV/AIDS activists in the Cannon House Office Building Rotunda.
The activists — members of Housing Works, Health GAP, and the Treatment Action Group — joined former PEPFAR staffers in demanding full funding of the program that President George W. Bush created in 2003. They chanted “AIDS cuts kill, PEPFAR now!” and unfurled banners from the Rotunda’s second floor that read “Trump and (Office of Management and Budget Director Russell) Vought kill people with AIDS worldwide,” “Over 200,000 deaths since January 2025,” and “Hands off PEPFAR” before their arrest.
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Targeting a Dangerous Gut Infection
March 5, 2026 - by Genevieve Rajewski - Tufts Now - Tufts University - New Tufts University School of Medicine studies reveal how Clostridioides difficile behaves inside the body
Affecting roughly half a million Americans each year, bacterial infections caused by Clostridioides difficile—commonly known as C. diff—are a serious and persistent problem for patients and hospitals alike. The bacterium can cause severe diarrhea, life-threatening inflammation of the colon, and recurring illness that dramatically reduces quality of life—especially for older adults, who face the highest risk of complications and death.
C. diff remains difficult to control for a combination of factors. The bacterium survives many disinfectants, allowing it to easily spread in health care settings, where it is the most common cause of infectious diarrhea. After entering the body through the mouth, the bacterium travels to the colon, where it colonizes and starts releasing toxins that damage tissues. About one in nine patients treated for C. diff will develop another infection within weeks or months—often unpredictably—with the risk of a repeat infection increasing from there. And some strains of the bacterium have become resistant to the first-line antibiotics used to treat it.
UB researchers help develop new class of powerful antibodies to treat HIV using AI
BUFFALO, N.Y. - March 5, 2026 - By Laurie Kaiser - University at Buffalo - Medication may be necessary only once or twice per year in some patients, according to published study
Not that long ago, a diagnosis of the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, was considered a death sentence. Today, advancements in medicine have rendered HIV a manageable condition that allows most individuals to enjoy a typical lifespan.
What it often takes to achieve that level of longevity, however, is one or more medications that have to be reliably taken daily for a lifetime and it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, explains Nicholas Smith, PharmD, PhD, assistant professor of pharmacy practice in the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SPPS).
HIV/AIDS in Dominica
March 5, 2026 - The Borgen Project - Dominica is a small island country in the Eastern Caribbean with a population of around 70,000. Historically, the Caribbean has been one of the regions that HIV/AIDS has affected the most in the world, with an overall incidence rate surpassed only by Africa.
Considered an epidemic in the Latin American-Caribbean region since the beginning of the 1980s, HIV has had a widespread and lasting impact across many countries. Many Caribbean countries witness a prevalence rate of more than 1%, markedly above the international average of 0.7%.
Despite the fact that the greater region is still witnessing a ‘generalized epidemic’ of HIV, Dominica has made remarkable progress in tackling the disease and today accounts for some of the lowest rates of transmission and new infections in its locality, thanks to targeted testing efforts, expanded training and local education programs. Here is more information about HIV/AIDS in Dominica.
Machine-learning immune-system analysis study may hold clues to personalized medicine
TORONTO, March. 4, 2026 - YORK UNIVERSITY - Study found clear vaccine-initiated immune response biomarkers between HIV positive and HIV negative groups, but outliers underscore varied, intricate nature of the immune system
How people with compromised immune systems respond to vaccines is an important area of immunological research. A new study led by York University found that not only could machine-learning models accurately pinpoint differences in healthy controls and those living with HIV, but also found outliers in both groups that provide fascinating glimpses into the complex nature of the immune system and what personalized medicine could look like in the future, accounting for variables such as age, comorbidities and genetics.
Peter Staley Brings Fire, History and Hope in Speech to HIV Scientists
Mar 4 2026 - By Mark S. King - My Fabulous Disease - At the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in February, HIV activism icon Peter Staley delivered much more than a history lesson on the impact of HIV activism back in the day. He called the thousands of researchers and scientists gathered there to continue actions to fight authoritarianism in all its forms, most especially in regards to the dismantling of public health under the Trump regime.
Along the way, Peter offered fascinating insight into his relationship with figures such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, an early adversary who has become a close friend and ally, and beseeched the attendees to stand strong until this public health nightmare fades into history itself while voters turn out the fascist strongmen ruining the country.
Peter’s speech was titled, “‘Annus Horribilis’ and The War on Science: Thoughts on Resisting and Rebuilding,”
Western leads new international, public-private initiative for equitable access to HIV cure
March 03, 2026 - By Jeff Renaud - Western News - Western University - IMMUNEQUITY is reimagining a cure with innovation and accessibility inseparable goals
At Western University, a bold idea is taking shape: what if lifesaving medical breakthroughs were designed from the very beginning to reach everyone who needs them?
For Eric Arts, Canada Research Chair in HIV Pathogenesis and Viral Control, the question is not only ethical, but urgent. After decades of progress in HIV treatment and vaccine development, the internationally renowned virologist has seen both the extraordinary power of biomedical discovery and the painful delays in who benefits from it.
“Where you live still determines whether you benefit from medical breakthroughs,” said Arts, a microbiology and immunology professor at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. “In the world of HIV, that inequity is stark.”
New tool reveals the secrets of HIV-infected cells
SAN FRANCISCO - 3-MAR-2026 - Gladstone Institutes - Developed by Gladstone scientists, HIV-seq could uncover new opportunities for treating HIV.
For people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), life-saving antiretroviral therapy keeps their HIV-infected immune cells from making new copies of the virus, preventing illness and transmission.
Historically, these infected cells have been known as the “latent” HIV reservoir—implying that the HIV within the infected cells is completely inactive.
“But notion that the entirety of the HIV reservoir is latent is actually a misleading description, because some reservoir cells can still be quite active,” says Nadia Roan, PhD,senior investigator at Gladstone Institutes. “Even though antiretroviral therapy keeps full-fledged HIV virus from being made, some of the infected cells continue spitting out viral products.”
HIV patients are especially vulnerable to extreme weather events
March 3, 2026 - By Sonia Fernandez - The Current - UC Santa Barbara - Extreme weather events (EWEs), such as floods, blizzards, hurricanes or droughts, threaten everyday normalcy for millions of people around the globe. Coupled with trying to get timely health care, EWE exposure can change the course of an infectious illness for both individuals and local populations. But who — and where — is most at risk?
Focusing on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), scientists from UC Santa Barbara, UC San Francisco and City University of New York (CUNY) have collaborated to begin answering this question. In the process, they have created a historical record that links real-life climate and weather data to a large multi-national (2.2 million) cohort of people living with and at risk for HIV.
“People living with HIV are an especially vulnerable population, many of whom live in areas that are historically and/or increasingly prone to severe weather events,” said UCSB geographer Frank Davenport. “There was not a lot of research in this area and this was a unique opportunity to expand our overall understanding of the health impacts of extreme weather events.”
US study shows rising prevalence of fungal infection
March 2, 2026 - By Chris Dall - CIDRAP - University of Minnesota - Analysis of a nationally representative sample of electronic health record (EHR) data shows aspergillosis diagnoses increased by more than 5% annually in the United States from 2013 through 2023, US researchers reported late last week in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.
Aspergillosis is an infection caused by breathing in spores of Aspergillus, a common mold that’s ubiquitous indoors and outdoors. While most people don’t get sick from inhaling Aspergillus, it can cause severe and deadly infections in people who have lung disease or are immune-compromised (such as cancer patients and organ transplant recipients), with an overall death rate of 20%. Recent data also raise concerns that rising resistance to antifungal medications is making treatment more difficult.
Inside the battle to end the Aids pandemic in the face of Trump’s cuts
02 March 2026 - The Independent - Activists who dispute safety of vaccines are pushing to limit immunization requirements in schools
In a clinic in Cape Town earlier this year, a woman rolled up her sleeve and became the first person enrolled in what is one of the most consequential HIV treatment trials ever attempted on African soil.
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As measles spreads in South Carolina, RFK Jr’s allies work to gut vaccine laws
March 2, 2026 - By Michelle R Smith - The Guardian - Citing rising costs and shortfalls in federal support, about 20 states are toughening eligibility requirements for patients in drug assistance programs.
As South Carolina grapples with a measles outbreak that has infected nearly 1,000 people, groups with ties to the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, are pushing to eliminate immunization requirements that protect children.
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States Move to Limit Access to H.I.V. Treatment
March 2, 2026 - By Apoorva Mandavilli - The New York Times - Citing rising costs and shortfalls in federal support, about 20 states are toughening eligibility requirements for patients in drug assistance programs.
Tens of thousands of Americans are losing access to treatment for H.I.V. as nearly 20 states impose restrictions on assistance programs and several others weigh such changes.
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Among Jesse Jackson’s Key Legacies Was Raising Awareness Around HIV/AIDS
Mar 01, 2026 - By Joshua P. Cohen- Forbes - Reverend Jesse Jackson died last month. He was one of America’s foremost civil rights, religious and political figures. Among his most important legacies was raising awareness around the HIV/AIDS epidemic at a time that it was a taboo topic in political circles. His advocacy began shortly after the disease emerged in the early 1980s. Jackson helped set the stage for a push for more funding for research on prevention and treatment.
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