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Positively Positive - Living with HIV/AIDS:
HIV/AIDS News Archive - June 2026
HIV dramatically increases the risk of HPV-related anal cancer, data show
June 30, 2026 - CIDRAP - Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy - University of Minnesota - Richard Goldman lived with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) for at least five years with few symptoms.
Although he sometimes felt rundown or feverish, he continued to work full time as a physician assistant at a San Francisco hospital. When he developed rectal pain at age 40, his doctor said he just had hemorrhoids.
Goldman waited months to discover the real source of the pain: anal cancer.
“The colorectal surgeon was very specific in saying that it had nothing to do with AIDS,” said Goldman, now 77.
It was 1989, and scientists had only just begun to link anal cancer to human papillomavirus (HPV), a virus that causes 90% of anal cancers. HPV also causes almost all cervical cancers and most cancers of the vagina, vulva, penis, and head and neck.
‘The Ring’ actor Daveigh Chase died of AIDS, medical examiner says
June 30, 2026 - Katie Scott - Global News - The official cause of death has been revealed for Daveigh Chase, the actor who appeared in The Ring and voiced Lilo in the animated film Lilo & Stitch.
Chase died of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) with other significant conditions, including chronic polysubstance use, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner records, obtained by Global News
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Currently approved mRNA vaccines are safe and effective, with promise for future disease prevention and treatment, new review confirms
June 30, 2026 - The Lancet - A comprehensive new review published in The Lancet affirms that currently approved mRNA vaccines are safe and highly effective at preventing infectious diseases, including COVID-19. The new review also suggests that mRNA vaccine technologies have potential as new options for treating and preventing other health conditions and diseases, including influenza, RSV, cancer, and autoimmune conditions.
Through detailed analysis of published data from laboratory research, clinical trials, and real-world surveillance of billions of mRNA vaccine doses, the authors assessed the science behind mRNA vaccines and their public health impact.
The Wizard of POZ
June 29, 2026 - By Tim Murphy - POZ - Long-term survivor Sean Strub reflects on his time as mayor of Milford, Pennsylvania, and his HIV activism.
POZ founder Sean Strub and fellow longtime LGBTQ and HIV activist Cleve Jones recently organized Seven Days in June, a series of nationwide rallies and other events that drew attention to the degradation of health policy and funding under the Trump administration—and charted a better vision for the future.
For Strub, 68, it was the latest in a lifetime of activist and entrepreneurial ventures, ranging from the launch of this magazine in 1994—a time when AIDS seemed perilously close to ending his own lif—to his becoming not only a hotel owner in small-town Milford, Pennsylvania, but also the town’s mayor from 2016 to 2024.
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A new gene editing approach shields the immune system from HIV
JUNE 29, 2026 - By K Mitchell - Fred Hutch Cancer Center - From the Lieber Lab, University of Washington and the Cancer Consortium
More than 40 million people worldwide are living with HIV, and, while antiretroviral therapy has transformed the disease from a death sentence into a manageable condition, it requires lifelong daily medication. The cost and commitment of treatment remain enormous barriers to successfully controlling the disease, particularly for people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where the burden of HIV is highest.
A small number of patients have achieved what appears to be a functional cure through bone marrow transplantation from donors carrying a rare natural mutation in the CCR5 gene that renders their immune cells resistant to HIV infection. But that approach is impractical on a large scale. It is expensive, invasive, and dependent on a rare transplant-donor match. A new study published in Molecular Therapy imagines if the immune system could be safeguarded against HIV in another way. Led by Anna K Anderson and Dr. Chang Li in the Lieber Lab at the University of Washington along with Fred Hutch colleagues, researchers developed a gene editing strategy that aims to recreate that same protective mutation through a single intravenous injection.
HIV Treatment Slows Accelerated Aging
June 29, 2026 - By Liz Highleyman - POZ - People living with HIV are prone to developing comorbidities, such as cardiovascular disease, earlier than their HIV-negative peers.
Antiretroviral treatment may slow accelerated biological aging by nearly four years in people with HIV, according to a study presented at the Congress of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in April.
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Predictors of cerebral small-vessel disease in middle-aged, virologically-controlled people living with HIV
June 29, 2026 - Oxford Academic - Oxford University Press - Abstract
Background
Despite durable viral suppression with antiretroviral therapy (ART), non-AIDS comorbidities remain frequent in aging people with HIV (PWH). Cerebral small-vessel disease (CSVD), a major contributor to stroke and cognitive decline, is up to twice as prevalent in middle-aged ART-treated PWH. Mechanisms underlying this excess risk remain unclear.
Objective
To identify inflammatory, viral, renal, and retinal vascular factors independently associated with CSVD in virologically-controlled PWH.
Florida Budget Becomes Law, Securing Reversal of HIV Drug Cuts
TALLAHASSEE, FL (June 29, 2026) - AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) - After months of cuts, the signed state budget restores Florida’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program in full and funds it with an additional $75 million for the year ahead
This year’s cuts to Florida’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) are reversed and locked into law. Governor Ron DeSantis signed the state’s 2026-27 budget in Tampa this morning and confirmed that the additional $75 million for the program was not among his vetoes. The restoration protects tens of thousands of Floridians living with HIV and caps a months-long campaign led by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) with a coalition of clinicians, providers, and people living with HIV.
“This victory belongs to our whole coalition, the clinicians, providers, and people living with HIV who told their stories at real personal cost,” said Esteban Wood, Director of Advocacy and Legislative Affairs at AHF. “We led this fight together. For months, it was a promise. Today it is the law, and people can finally breathe.”
Merck Announces New Agreement with ADAP Crisis Task Force to Improve Access and Care for People Living with HIV
June 29, 2026 - RAHWAY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Merck & Co., Inc. - Agreement will help state ADAP programs provide access to IDVYNSO™ (doravirine/islatravir) for eligible individuals
Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, today announced an agreement with the ADAP Crisis Task Force (ACTF) to help state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) provide access to the company’s new once-daily HIV treatment, IDVYNSO™ (doravirine/islatravir). In 2024, state ADAPs supported more than 250,000 people with HIV in the United States.
IDVYNSO was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in April 2026 as a new, two-drug single-tablet regimen of 100 mg doravirine and 0.25 mg islatravir, for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults to replace the current antiretroviral regimen in those who are virologically suppressed (HIV-1 RNA less than 50 copies per mL) on a stable antiretroviral regimen with no history of virologic treatment failure and no known substitutions associated with resistance to doravirine.
Shreveport Celebrates Its Mind-Boggling ACT UP History
Jun 28 2026 - By Mark S. King - My Fabulous Disease - The story is so unlikely, so heroic, so filled with tragedy and triumph, it deserves to be a movie or a book. And now it is both.
Dr. David Hylan’s account of the history of ACT UP Shreveport was first chronicled in his 2017 documentary, Small Town Rage, which featured interviews with the surviving, plucky team of activists in the Louisiana city. During the height of the AIDS epidemic, they fought ignorance and fear while caring for their own members. They changed policy, attitudes, and the HIV landscape throughout Louisiana.
And now, the book. Small Town Rage: Fighting Back in the Deep South has just been released, and it further details the protests, strategies, and internal struggles within a southern ACT UP chapter no one could have imagined.
Sunset or new dawn? UNAids fights for survival
June 28, 2026 - By Michelle Langrand - Geneva Solutions - Thirty years after its founding, the UN is considering shutting down its leading organisation focused on HIV/Aids just as the very epidemic it was built to end intensifies.
Last week, UN delegates in New York adopted a new political declaration on HIV/Aids – the final one before the 2030 deadline that countries gave themselves to eradicate the disease. But behind the diplomatic victory, the existence of the very organisation created to spearhead the battle against HIV/Aids is under threat.
UNAids’ coordinating board meets this week with the organisation’s future on the agenda. The meeting comes amid a push by the UN chief António Guterres to quickly wind it down as soon as 2026 as part of his efforts to shrink the UN system. But the board has pushed back and is exploring alternatives. What UNAids looks like next year or in 2030 remains an open question.
Spanish study finds similarly low rate of new cancers after liver transplantation in people with and without HIV
June 26, 2026 - Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE) - HIV and transplantation drugs can weaken the immune system, increasing cancer risk
Researchers monitored people with and without HIV for up to 14 years after liver transplant
No increased risk for the development of new cancers occurred in people with HIV
Studies have found that HIV treatment (antiretroviral therapy; ART) has had a tremendous impact on the survival of people with HIV. When used as directed, many people with HIV will have near-normal life expectancy. In most people, ART can suppress levels of HIV so low that the virus cannot be detected with routine lab tests. The suppression of HIV leads to the immune system repairing much of the injury caused by the virus.
After Trump Admin Left US Vulnerable To Disease Outbreaks By Abandoning Leadership In Global Health, Leader Schumer Demands Admin Immediately Launch An Ebola Response Plan To Protect Americans
June 26, 2026 - Washington, DC - The Senate Democratic Caucus - Today, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) demanded that the Trump administration immediately release a detailed Ebola response plan in light of the worsening outbreak. Leader Schumer underscored that the administration’s actions have continually undermined U.S. leadership in global health, including withdrawing from the World Health Organization, disbanding USAID, eliminating the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, and allowing DOGE to fire CDC experts on infectious diseases.
The Trump administration has left the United States vulnerable on a global stage. Since he has taken office, Trump has capitulated America’s leadership in public health by withdrawing from the World Health Organization, disbanding USAID, firing experts, and shuttering vital offices. As a result, Trump has left Americans more exposed to outbreaks, infections, and health disasters. Now, with a worsening Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Americans don’t feel they can trust in our leadership to safeguard their health.
Today, Leader Schumer is fighting back by demanding that the Trump administration release a detailed Ebola response plan in light of the growing outbreak.
Why is the US ending AIDS funding for South Africa?
26 June 2026 - BBC - The Global Story
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, The Global Story is launching a landmark series exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the United States has shaped the modern world.
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While U.S. HIV Infections Have Fallen, They Are Rising Among Latinos — New Paper Documents a “Cascading Disaster”
WASHINGTON, DC - June 25, 2026 - by Johns Hopkins School of Nursing - Johns Hopkins researchers publish new findings ahead of AIDS 2026, warning that worsening HIV incidence, eroding data infrastructure and growing barriers to HIV services risk deepening a crisis already at a criCcal inflecCon point
From 2010 to 2022, new HIV infections in the United States declined 19% overall. Among Latinos, they rose 12%. In 2023, new HIV diagnoses among Latinos jumped 8% in a single year — the largest increase of any racial or ethnic group in the country. These trends are not new; they are the accelerating result of more than a decade of structural neglect.
These are the central findings of a new paper published in the journal AIDS, released as the global HIV community prepares for the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) in Rio de Janeiro, July 26–31. “The Price of Invisibility: A Cascading Disaster in the US Latino HIV Epidemic,” by researchers at the Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health (CLAFH) at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, argues the U.S. cannot credibly advance a goal of ending its HIV epidemic while allowing Latino communities to remain invisible in the national response.
South African civil groups warn of dire impact as U.S. phases out HIV program funding
JOHANNESBURG (AP) - Jun 25, 2026 - By Mogomotsi Magome - PBS News - Civil society organizations in South Africa said Wednesday that adolescent girls and women are among the first vulnerable groups to feel the pinch of U.S. foreign aid cuts as the Trump administration phases out its more than $400 million support annually for the country’s HIV programs.
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Growing DRC Ebola outbreak has already spread to Uganda with 70% chance of reaching South Sudan, new modelling study suggests
June 25, 2026 - THE LANCET Infectious Diseases - New estimates suggest that the current Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues to grow and has already spread to Uganda, with a nearly seven-in-ten chance of the virus reaching South Sudan.
As of 22 June 2026, there have been 1,048 laboratory-confirmed cases and 267 deaths recorded in DRC.
The virus spread undetected for six weeks before being identified by WHO and officially declared a public health emergency. Early suspected case counts peaked at 1,077 before being revised downward once laboratory tests confirmed that many of those patients had other illnesses, not Ebola.
In the absence of a vaccine against the Bundibugyo strain, the authors say neighboring countries should implement public health measures now, such as border surveillance, contact tracing, and safe burial practices, while DRC’s intensified response is showing early signs of slowing transmission.
A rare strain of Ebola that began spreading undetected in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in early April 2026 has now confirmed transmission in Uganda and is potentially on course to reach South Sudan, according to a new modelling study from the World Health Organization (WHO) published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.
California study explores possible risk factors for disseminated gonorrhea
June 25, 2026 - Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE) - Gonorrhea that spreads beyond the throat or genital tract is called disseminated gonorrhea
Researchers in California studied data from more than 900 people with gonorrhea
Heterosexual sex, age and use of methamphetamine were linked to disseminated gonorrhea
The bacteria that cause gonorrhea (N. gonorrhoeae) can incite inflammation and symptoms that most commonly affect the mucosal tissues—throat, anus, penis, vagina—as these are usually the point of first contact with such bacteria. However, in some cases, if left undiagnosed or untreated, these germs can enter the blood and spread to more distant places, causing complications such as nodules on the skin, inflammation of the lining of the heart, painful inflammation of joints, and, in very rare cases, inflammation of the tissues lining the brain. When gonorrhea spreads to distant tissues, it is disseminated. Cases of disseminated gonorrhea can be potentially serious.
A team of researchers in California has been studying the impact of disseminated gonococcal infection (DGI) in that state. The researchers found that between July 2020 and May 2024 there were more than 400 cases of DGI, with eight people dying from complications.
As first imported Ebola case is recorded in Europe, ECDC calls on EU Member States to continue investing in preparedness
June 24, 2026 - European Centre for Disease Prevention (ECDC) - Following confirmation of the first imported case of Ebola disease in Europe since the current outbreak began after a doctor returning to France from the Democratic Republic of the Congo ?tested positive, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) calls on EU Member States to continue strengthening their preparedness. ECDC underlines that the risk of sustained transmission within the EU/EEA is very low provided that effective measures for early detection, isolation and treatment of patients are in place.
To assist in increasing preparedness during the current Ebola outbreak, the Centre has now developed an essential and practical checklist for national authorities to review internal procedures and strengthen system readiness, ensuring they can react quickly and effectively in case of need.
UC San Diego researcher wins $5.6M NIH Avant Garde Award to prevent HIV, hepatitis C and overdose
23-Jun-2026 - University of California - San Diego - Innovative project will use AI-powered “digital twins” to help public health agencies better prevent HIV, hepatitis C and overdose among people who use drugs
Natasha Martin, DPhil, professor and vice chief of Global Public Health in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at UC San Diego School of Medicine, has been awarded a five-year, $5.6 million Avant-Garde Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), one of the most prestigious and competitive NIH research awards. The funding will support the development of innovative artificial intelligence tools designed to improve public health responses to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and overdose among people who use drugs across the United States.
United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS concludes with strong support for a bold political declaration for ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030
NEW YORK/GENEVA, 23 June 2026 - UNAIDS - At a moment of growing pressure and roadblocks to international cooperation, the United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS concluded today with overwhelming majority of Member States adopting a new Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS with strong support. The declaration reaffirms global commitment to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 and sets specific and important new targets.
The outcome follows weeks of negotiations with all Member States and engagement with communities, civil society and partners and demonstrates that, even in an environment marked by reduced international financing and multilateralism, countries continue to recognise the urgency of sustaining progress against HIV.
“We Know It’s Possible” The Future of HIV Cure Research
June 23, 2026 - amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research - amfAR VP of Research Dr. Andrea Gramatica discusses progress toward a cure for HIV: where we stand now and how we’re going to get there.
Since 1985, amfAR has been committed to an end to AIDS. In the more than 40 years since our founding, amfAR has awarded more than 3,900 grants to researchers worldwide, greatly expanding our understanding not just of how the virus infects human cells, but how to prevent that from happening, how to control the virus, and how to keep people living with HIV healthy.
The scientific community has managed to cure a handful of people of HIV. While those unique cases aren’t replicable for the more than 40 million people living with HIV, they do prove what was once only theoretical: it is possible to cure HIV. In the interview that follows, Dr. Andrea Gramatica, amfAR’s VP of Research, discusses where we stand now and how we’re going to get to the eventual goal.
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US cut to South Africa’s HIV response could cost lives, UNAids chief warns
June 23, 2026 - By Hafsa Khaliland and Pumza Fihlani - BBC - The US decision to withdraw all of its HIV and Aids funding from South Africa is likely to cost lives, the head of the UN’s HIV agency has warned.
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Appeals court clarifies that people living with HIV can join the military again
After a surprise Fourth Circuit order, Isaiah Wilkins and Kevin Deese say the fight is about science, stigma, and the chance to serve.
Jun 23, 2026 - By Christopher Wiggins - ADVOCATE - For a few weeks this spring, the door Isaiah Wilkins had been pushing on for years finally cracked open.
In late May and early June, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit did two things few expected. First, it agreed to rehear Wilkins v. Hegseth, the case challenging the military’s ban on enlisting people living with HIV, before the full court. Then it clarified that, in doing so, it had lifted a stay that the Pentagon had been using to keep the ban in force. The practical effect was immediate: people with well-managed HIV could once again walk into a recruiting office and try to enlist while the case moves forward.
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‘A matter of life or death’: the activists confronting Congress about slashing HIV funding
22 Jun 2026 - By Fabiola Cineas - The Guardian - Original organizers, joined by new wave, are demanding the government not undo four decades of progress
On a warm evening in June, hundreds of people holding candles marched toward the Stonewall Inn in New York City, the birthplace of the US LGBTQ+ rights movement. Once they arrived, they all dropped to the ground – on the sidewalk and in the roadway – and put their backs against the pavement. The Aids rally, marking 45 years since the first reported cases, ended the way many have since the 1980s: with a die-in, dozens of bodies lying still for a long moment of silence.
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Cambodia Is First Country in Asia and the Pacific to Achieve Global 95–95–95 HIV Targets
June 22, 2026 - By United Nations - POZ - This means that 95% of people with HIV know their status, 95% of that group are on treatment, and 95% of that group is virally suppressed.
Cambodia has achieved the global 95–95–95 HIV targets, becoming the first country in Asia and the Pacific to reach this historic milestone.
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“A Huge Grab of Power”: Trump Is Defying Congress on Foreign Aid
June 22, 2026 - By Anna Maria Barry-Jester - ProPublica - Report Highlights
A Constitutional Crisis: Congress gave orders to Trump officials on foreign aid spending, but officials have largely refused to follow many of them, likely in violation of the law, experts say.
Delayed Spending: Officials have made little effort to spend aid money that Congress earmarked for specific purposes like nutrition and have reduced funding for HIV and other diseases.
Blocked Funds: Russell Vought’s Office of Management and Budget has labeled some aid money “unallocated” to control how it can be spent.
After the Trump administration upended the world’s largest foreign aid provider last year, terminating thousands of programs and firing nearly all of its staff, its plan for the agency was clear: Eliminate it entirely.
United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS opens as UNAIDS urges countries to firmly commit to ending AIDS by 2030
GENEVA, 22 June 2026 - UNAIDS - The United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS opened today at a moment of incertitude for the global AIDS response. Decades of progress have delivered what once seemed impossible: millions of lives saved, new HIV infections reduced, and treatment expanded around the world.
However, as global leaders gather in New York to adopt a new UN Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, the last Declaration before the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, that progress is increasingly threatened due to funding cuts and a push back on human rights. Global leaders face a defining question: will the world protect hard-won gains and accelerate towards ending AIDS?
Ex-hospital director opens China’s only school for HIV-positive children to provide shelter
22 Jun 2026 - By Zoey Zhang - South China Morning Post - ‘The only difference between them and other children is that they take one extra pill a day,’ Guo says
A former hospital director in northern China has dedicated over two decades to creating an educational sanctuary for children living with HIV.
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‘My Fabulous Disease’ Wins Fourth NLGJA Blog Award
Jun 22 2026 - By Mark S. King - My Fabulous Disease - My Fabulous Disease has been honored by NLGJA, the national LBTQ journalist association, with its 2026 “Excellence in Blogging” award. It previously won the award in its inaugural year, 2014, as well as in 2016 and 2020.
The NLGJA awards its blog honor for a specific posting. This year, the posting which won the award was “Exposed Document Links HIV Leaders to ‘Betrayal of People Living with HIV.’”
Joint statement: United to End AIDS
19 June 2026 - World Health Organization (WHO) - Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific, and Eamonn Murphy, UNAIDS Regional Director for Asia-Pacific and Eastern Europe and Central Asia
“United to End AIDS”, a new UNAIDS report released ahead of the 2026 UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, sends a clear warning: progress against AIDS is real but fragile.
The devastating funding disruptions of 2025 have exposed how vulnerable HIV responses remain.
Countries have moved quickly to protect treatment when external support was suspended, reduced or delayed.
However, specific programmes that have been under-prioritised in national budgets, including HIV prevention, testing, community-led services and efforts to remove barriers to care, have been hit hard. Without decisive action, these gaps risk fuelling new infections and AIDS-related deaths. Indeed, we are already seeing worrying signs.
“Starting Home Fires” HIV awareness campaign launches during National Indigenous History Month to promote HIV awareness
TORONTO, ON - June 19, 2026 - CANFAR - Indigenous-led campaign designed to reduce stigma, increase knowledge, and support conversations.
As communities across Canada recognize National Indigenous History Month and prepare to mark National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21, Indigenous leaders and HIV advocates are launching Starting Home Fires, a new Indigenous-led HIV awareness campaign designed to reduce stigma, increase knowledge, and support community-driven conversations about HIV.
Lancement de la campagne de sensibilisation au VIH « Allumer des feux sacrés » à l'occasion du Mois national de l'histoire autochtone
TORONTO (Ont.) - 19 juin 2026 - CANFAR - Une campagne dirigée par des Autochtones pour réduire la stigmatisation et accroître les connaissances.
Alors que les communautés de partout au Canada célèbrent le Mois national de l’histoire autochtone et se préparent à marquer la Journée nationale des peuples autochtones le 21 juin, des leaders autochtones et des militant·e·s de la lutte contre le VIH lancent la campagne Allumer des feux sacrés. Cette nouvelle campagne de sensibilisation au VIH menée par des Autochtones vise à réduire la stigmatisation, accroître les connaissances et appuyer les discussions sur le VIH en milieu communautaire.
ACT UP NY and The Love Tank Team-up on Guides and Zines
June 18, 2024 - ACT UP New York - ACT UP NY and The Love Tank CIC – a not-for-profit that promotes health & wellbeing of underserved communities in the UK – have announced a collaboration to bring vital harm reduction and health information to the US.
The collaboration sees the launch of new versions of five of The Love Tank’s existing health resources, including guides to the STI prevention tool DoxyPEP, talking to health professionals about HIV PrEP, and a harm reduction guide for anabolic steroids. The new versions of the guide include language and information specific for the US and New York-based communities that ACT UP NY supports.
HIV Clinicians Say Federal Assaults Are Making Their Patients Fall Out of Care
June 18, 2026 - By Tim Murphy - TheBody - Eric Farmer’s patient was a Latin American immigrant in his late 30s who has kids and works in construction. He had “always been a good meds taker and was almost always undetectable,” Farmer remembers. “He used to come in no problem and never missed visits.”.
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Trump administration to phase out HIV funding for South Africa
June 18, 2026 - By Carmen Paun - POLITICAL - The State Department said the country had failed to address the president’s concerns about treatment of its white citizens.
The Trump administration has decided to start phasing out HIV funding for South Africa following the country’s “failure to make demonstrable progress on policy requests by the administration,” a State Department official told POLITICO on Thursday.
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These 3 brothers lost their parents to AIDS. Now they struggle to make it on their own
June 18, 2026 - NPR - Whenever it rains, Joseph, Gift and Alumbwe — ages 17, 15 and 12 — scramble to move their clothes to a dry corner of their home, deep in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. That’s because rain streams through holes in the roof.
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Breaking down the science: How one virus teaches your body to fight another
June 17, 2026 - The Rockefeller University - Riding the subway, rushing through errands, rendezvousing with friends—for the human immune system, daily life means running a gauntlet of germs.
Most researchers study these pathogens—be they COVID-19, RSV, norovirus, countless common colds or any of the growing list of viruses making the rounds—one at a time and in isolation, so as to get a handle on how the immune system responds to each. But Alexander Lercher, a research associate in Rockefeller’s Laboratory of Virology and Infectious Disease, thinks that approach misses something fundamental.
“The immune system isn’t just warding off one virus at any given moment,” Lercher says. “It’s constantly encountering microbes and adapting in response. The more you think about it, the more complex you realize it is. There is a dynamic interplay that’s impacting the whole system.”
Remembering Dr. Greg Robinson
17 June, 2026 - Realize - Today, in the wake of his recent passing, we honour the decades-long commitment of one of the founding members of the Canadian Working Group on HIV and Rehabilitation (CWGHR), now Realize, Dr. Gregory Robinson.
En mémoire du Dr Greg Robinson
17 juin, 2026 - Réalise - Aujourd’hui, à la suite de son récent décès, nous rendons hommage à l’engagement de longue date de l’un des membres fondateurs du Groupe de travail canadien sur le VIH et la réadaptation (GTCVHR), aujourd’hui Réalise, le Dr Gregory Robinson.
New Plan Scales Back C.D.C.’s Work on Diseases Abroad
June 17, 2026 - By Apoorva Mandavilli - New York Times - The State Department is taking over much of the control of global health initiatives, for which critics say the department does not have the expertise.
Even as the world is racing to contain the deadly Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Trump administration is moving ahead with a plan that could decimate support for programs that detect and snuff out exactly such outbreaks.
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CMV May Be a Modifiable Driver of Inflammation and Aging in People With HIV
June 16, 2026 - By Terri Wilder - TheBodyPro - An Interview With Peter Hunt, M.D.
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is nearly universally present within people living with HIV. It persists despite suppressive antiretroviral therapy, driving chronic immune activation and accelerated biological aging. Clinician-researcher Peter Hunt, M.D., hopes that widespread CMV treatment may prove to have benefits in terms of frailty, cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, and other aging-related disorders. In a recent interview with TheBodyPro, he explained the science behind this aspiration.
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AIDS Ride for Life changes name to Finger Lakes Ride for Life, shifts focus to health challenges beyond HIV/AIDS
ITHACA, NY (607NewsNow) - June 17, 2026 - By Maddie Cavataio - 607NewsNow - Set for September 19th, the 2026 AIDS Ride for Life is now operating under the name of Finger Lakes Ride for Life.
The new name of the annual fundraiser will reflect the broadening horizons of the Southern Tier AIDS Program (STAP) and their goal to give aid to those struggling with health issues beyond HIV/AIDS.
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New analysis supports the use of Maviret for people with hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) and comorbidities
June 16, 2026 - Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE) - The antiviral drug Maviret is highly effective at curing acute and chronic hepatitis C infection
Researchers studied its use with co-existing health conditions and other medicines
Most participants tolerated the drug, stayed in the study and were cured of hepatitis C
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection infects the liver and causes inflammation in this vital organ. In some people, the immune system can contain and destroy HCV during this initial, or acute, phase of infection. However, in cases where the immune system is not able to contain acute HCV, it becomes a chronic infection. Over time, healthy liver tissue is replaced with scar tissue. Gradually, the liver becomes increasingly dysfunctional, and a variety of problems ensue. Some people develop persistent fatigue. Later, they can develop internal bleeding, fluid buildup in the abdomen and serious abdominal infections. Eventually, difficulty thinking clearly and problems with memory occur. As the liver becomes increasingly unable to filter the blood of waste products, the skin gradually turns yellow (jaundice). The risk of liver cancer increases as the amount of scar tissue expands. Thus, if HCV is left undiagnosed and untreated, it can result in death.
HIV vaccine developed by HK, Shenzhen scientists promises breakthrough
June 16, 2026 - By Li Bingcun in Shenzhen - China Daily - A key step toward a functional cure for HIV has been achieved, as a cross-border research team involving Hong Kong and Shenzhen institutions delivered promising clinical trial results for its innovative therapeutic HIV vaccine.
This therapy offers the potential to help people living with HIV avoid lifelong medication, through vaccine injections administered over a few years to help control the virus.
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The 42nd annual Toronto AIDS Candlelight Vigil
42 Years of Building Community: Legacy, Love and Resistance
Tuesday, June 23, 2026 at 9 pm at Barbara Hall Park, Toronto, Ontario.
New Rapid TB Testing to Reach 13 Countries, Bringing Life-Saving Diagnosis Closer to Communities
GENEVA – 16 June 2026 - The Global Fund - Tuberculosis (TB), the world's leading infectious disease killer, claims more than 1 million lives every year despite being preventable and curable. One of the biggest barriers to ending TB is that millions of people still lack access to rapid, accurate diagnosis. To help close this gap, 13 countries are preparing to roll out a new, first-in-class near-point-of-care (NPOC) molecular diagnostic test for TB across health facilities as part of an Early Adopter initiative driven by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund).
Supported by the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and implemented on the ground by the Aurum Institute, the initiative will deliver nearly 3 million fast, accurate TB tests to people and places that have never had access before – in Bangladesh, Benin, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Uganda, Viet Nam and Zambia.
Sexual health pioneer Kaye Wellings awarded OBE
15 June 2026 - The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine - LSHTM - LSHTM expert’s groundbreaking research and influence on UK policies recognised with honours for services to sexual and reproductive health
Professor Kaye Wellings, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), has been made an OBE for her influential sexual health research.
The social scientist was awarded in the King’s Birthday Honours for services to sexual and reproductive health through her leading role in studies with major policy impact.
Kaye Wellings, Professor of Sexual and Reproductive Health at LSHTM, founded the groundbreaking National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) investigating the sexual behaviour of British people.
Wastewater analysis offers a new way to monitor HIV in communities
Houston, TX - Jun 15, 2026 - By Taylor Barnes - Baylor College of Medicine - Human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) detection in wastewater offers a novel approach to monitor the virus in communities. Baylor College of Medicine researchers and colleagues at collaborating institutions report in Nature Communications that their method, called hybrid-capture genetic sequencing, allows them to analyze viral genomes in detail and specifically identify viral signals coming from community wastewater. Analysis of sites with available clinical data showed that wastewater HIV signals strongly coincided with the number of people known to be living with HIV in that community, providing evidence that wastewater HIV signals can track HIV burden.
“HIV-1 is a retrovirus that has infected 90 million people and caused more than 40 million deaths,” said co-corresponding author Dr. Thomas Giordano, section chief of infectious diseases and professor of medicine at Baylor. “Despite advances in diagnostics, preventive measures and treatment, HIV-1 continues to spread – there were 1.3 million new diagnoses globally in 2023. Controlling HIV is challenging because it is difficult to identify people who are undiagnosed or not receiving consistent care; these groups account for 80% of new transmissions.”
New Stanford University program will sic bacteria-killing viruses on drug-resistant bacteria
June 15, 2026 - By Bruce Goldman - Stanford Medicine - A National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease grant kicks off a new program to combat antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.
Paul Bollyky, MD, PhD, professor of infectious disease and of microbiology and immunology, has been named to lead The Center for Phage Pharmaceuticals at Stanford University. A grant of $9.5 million over a five-year period from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases kicks off the initiation of the program, with the purpose of accelerating clinical applications of research on bacteriophages, usually referred to as “phages.” These are viruses that naturally invade and kill bacteria, but not us, making them a potentially powerful weapon against a number of antibiotics-resistant infections.
Clinical applications of the program’s research could help defeat several antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens that are increasingly widespread among hospitalized patients, said Bollyky, the program’s designated director.
The Plague in the Shadows
June 13, 2026 - Reveal Podcast - Reveal News - Decades before Covid-19 appeared, AIDS tore through the US, but there was little help for the most vulnerable communities.
Decades before Covid-19, the AIDS epidemic tore through communities in the US and around the world. It has killed some 40 million people and continues to take lives today.
Read more...
Global Health Watch: Political Interference in Science, Bethesda Declaration 2.0, UN HLM on HIV Negotiations, ADA Mtg Controversy
June 12, 2026 - Global Health Watch - AVAC - Issue 72
The US Administration names a nominee to lead US global health diplomacy at the State Department, and NIAID ushers in new interim leadership, just as scientists warn that political interference is increasingly threatening the institutions that drive federally funded research and innovation. From the updated Bethesda Declaration and controversy at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting, to high-stakes negotiations on the UN Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS ahead of the upcoming High-Level Meeting, the politicization of science and public health are on full display this week.
Lessons from the AIDS Quilt: what the cancer world can learn from AIDS advocacy
June 12, 2026 - By Peter F. Garrett - The Cancer Letter - In 1989, I stood in front of the AIDS Memorial Quilt on a hot summer afternoon on the National Mall in Washington DC.
I was 28 years old and living with the man who I have been with ever since. I was still finding my place in the gay community and, like many people visiting the Quilt, I was slowly walking around, admiring the photographs, names, and mementos that friends and family had sewn into their loved one’s panels. I can still feel the vibe—we were in the middle of a health crisis and many, if not most of us, were either silent or quietly crying in what felt like a sacred spot.
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A ‘perilous moment’ for the response to HIV warns UNAIDS
GENEVA, 12 June 2026 - UNAIDS - A new report released today by UNAIDS shows that external funding cuts, a strong push back on human rights and under investment and under prioritization of HIV prevention and community services are threatening to reverse years of gains in the AIDS response.
“There’s no question that this is the most serious disruption in the HIV response since the world came together to fight this disease,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “The funding cuts, combined with the reduction in civic space and the further criminalization of marginalized populations have come together to create the biggest storm the HIV response has ever seen.”
Use of anti-HIV pills down by two-fifths after aid cuts
June 12, 2026 - By Sarah Newey - The Telegraph - It is the first time in the history of the HIV/Aids response that prevention efforts have gone backwards
The number of people taking a vital anti-HIV drug has fallen by almost two-fifths in just one year in the aftermath of swinging aid cuts, the United Nations has warned.
Between 2024 and 2025, the use of PrEP – a daily medicine that stops people contracting HIV – fell by an average of 38 per cent across 62 countries, according to initial data from UNAIDS published on Friday.
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Inside Trump’s Reversal on HIV
June 12, 2026 - By Alice Miranda Ollstein and Megan Messerly - POLITICO - The president’s first-term pledge to end HIV in the U.S. by 2030 has evaporated in his second term.
In 2019, midway through his marathon and frequently combative State of the Union address, President Donald Trump made a promise that garnered him a rare bipartisan standing ovation.
“Together,” he pledged from the podium, “we will defeat AIDS in America.”
Read more...
NIH and HeroX Call for Innovative Implementation Science Approaches to Improve the Delivery and Scale-up of Long-Acting HIV Prevention & Treatment
BETHESDA, Md., June 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - HeroX - HIV prevention and treatment has advanced significantly, yet access and uptake remain uneven. Approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV and about 1 in 8 don’t know it, underscoring the need for treatment delivery approaches that improve access, engagement, and sustained care. To help address this need, the Office of AIDS Research (OAR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is sponsoring the NIH ARISE-HIV LAUNCH Challenge. The challenge is facilitated by HeroX, the leading platform and open marketplace for crowdsourced solutions.
The competition seeks innovative, practical, implementation science informed approaches to improve the delivery and scale up of long-acting HIV prevention and treatment in real-world settings. From researchers and implementation scientists to public health practitioners, healthcare professionals, community-based organizations, advocates, and academics, anyone with relevant insight or problem-solving skills is invited to participate.
National AIDS Memorial and the Gilead Foundation Launch Major Investment to Expand HIV/AIDS Education and Community Leadership
SAN FRANCISCO & FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)- June 11, 2026, 2026 - Gilead. - Three-year, ~$3M commitment to expand leadership development, strengthen HIV education and engagement, and preserve the HIV movement’s history for future generations -
The National AIDS Memorial together with the Gilead Foundation today announced a transformative three-year, ~$3 million commitment to help preserve the history of the HIV epidemic, expand public education and engagement, and inspire the next generation of leaders advancing access to care. The fight against HIV/AIDS has always depended on more than medicine. It has required scientific innovation, public education, activism, compassion, communities caring for one another through crisis and change, and a shared commitment to ensuring these stories are never lost.
The initiative will help expand leadership development for emerging advocates, increase access to the stories preserved within the AIDS Memorial Quilt, elevate community voices through public engagement programs, and support stewardship of the National AIDS Memorial Grove.
Prevalence of non-communicable diseases among people living with HIV at HIV Clinic of Kigali University Teaching hospital (CHUK), a cross-sectional study
11 June 2026 - Nature - Abstract
Condom use remains a crucial preventive measure for individuals undergoing antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the fight against HIV/AIDS. This review and meta-analysis aimed to determine the pooled prevalence of condom use and the factors associated with it among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) on ART in Ethiopia. We conducted systematic searches across various databases, including PubMed, Google Scholar, Embase, and Cochrane Library, to identify relevant research articles. The review followed the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. We included cross-sectional studies from Ethiopia reporting condom use prevalence and associated factors among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Two authors independently extracted data using a standardized Microsoft Excel format, which was then analyzed in STATA 17. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I² test, and pooled odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated to examine the relationship between determinant factors and condom use. In this study, 1,360 articles were identified from various databases, and twelve were selected for the final systematic review and meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of condom use was 56% (95% CI: 51, 61). PLWHA who are married less likely to use condom (AOR = 0.40, 95% CI: 0.13, 0.66), urban residence was more likely to use condom (AOR = 2.63, 95% CI: 1.29, 3.97), and HIV status disclosure (AOR = 0.21, 95% CI: 0.12, 0.31) were significantly associated with condom use in Ethiopia. low percentage of respondents indicated that they use condoms. Marital status, urban residence, and receiving counseling about condom use, are associated with a higher probability of condom usage.
Lambda Legal and National HIV Advocates Challenge Trump Administration Effort to Restrict Care for Low-Income Transgender People Living with HIV
June 10, 2026 - Lambda Legal - New guidance for the federal Ryan White program restricts access to comprehensive health care services to transgender people living with HIV, explicitly undermining the program's purpose.
Today, Lambda Legal and Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer (US) LLP (HSF Kramer) filed a lawsuit on behalf of national HIV medical associations and providers challenging new federal funding guidelines that restrict the use of Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program funds in the treatment of low-income transgender patients living with HIV. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of leading national HIV medical organizations, including the American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM), the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA), and the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), as well as two provider plaintiffs.
HIV/AIDS in Mali: ARCAD Santé PLUS Makes Care Accessible
June 10, 2026 - The Borgen Project - HIV/AIDS remains West Africa’s most pressing health challenge. Mali’s HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of 1.1% is quite high for West Africa and the country is one of the few African nations where new infections are rising. Mali is both one of the 10 poorest countries in the world where they are on a list of 37 very poor and very indebted countries. It relies heavily on foreign aid. Many Malians struggle to access HIV/AIDS testing and treatment due to stigma and discrimination. Other challenges are difficult access to health facilities and scarcity of follow-up at community level. Yet, amid these challenges, a homegrown organization is working to address HIV/AIDS in Mali, one community at a time.
A Crisis of Access and Awareness
Approximately 62% of Malians living with HIV/AIDS know their status. Among those who test positive in Mali, 56% are on antiretroviral therapy (ART), with 48% on ART achieving viral load suppression. It helps people living with HIV/AIDS stay healthy, live longer and reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to others.
Plunging HIV Budgets Cast Dark Shadow Over UN High-Level Meeting
June 10, 2026 - By Kerry Cullinan - Health Policy Watch - Precipitous aid cuts are casting a huge shadow over the United Nations High-Level Meeting (HLM) on HIV on 22-23 June, with new research indicating that some countries could face almost total cuts in aid from the United States by 2030.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned last week that the world is far from achieving the 2025 targets set out in the Political Declaration adopted at the last HLM on HIV in 2021.
The 95-95-95 targets involve ensuring that 95% of people with HIV know their status; 95% of people with HIV are on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, and 95% of those on ARVs are virally suppressed.
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The Wistar Institute Recruits Torben Schiffner, Ph.D., to Advance Next-Generation Immune Therapies
PHILADELPHIA - (June 10, 2026) - The Wistar Institute - Schiffner merges biology, AI and reverse vaccinology to target HIV & emerging pandemic threats
The Wistar Institute, an international biomedical research leader in cancer, immunology, and infectious disease, announces the recruitment of Torben Schiffner, Ph.D., to its Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center. Schiffner is a vaccinologist whose work integrates molecular biology, AI-based protein design and computational modeling to engineer innovative immunogens. His research tackles highly-mutating viruses—HIV, alphaviruses and emerging pathogens—by developing more precise and durable immune responses.
UKHSA continues to recommend 4CMenB vaccine against gonorrhoea in gay men
LONDON, UK - June 9, 2026 - By Simon Collins - HIV i-Base - On 31 May 2026, UKHSA published new guidance on the continued use of the 4CMenB vaccine in a sexual health programme aimed to reduce the incidence of gonorrhoea in gay and bisexual men.
The guidance is needed because two months ago results from the large Australian GoGoVax trial, presented at CROI 2026, failed to show any protection in almost 600 gay and bisexual men randomised to either vaccine or placebo.
‘Something I’d never heard of almost killed me’: Men face rising threat of HPV-related cancers
June 9, 2026 - By Liz Szabo, MA - CIDRAP - Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy - University of Minnesota.
20 Years of HPV Vaccine Success
This is part 2 in a three-part series marking the 20th anniversary of the approval of the HPV vaccine. Part 1 was published yesterday, and part 3 will publish tomorrow. All will be available here.
Global Virus Network to host international media briefing on Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
TAMPA, FL, USA (June 9, 2026) - Global Virus Network (GVN) - On Wednesday, June 10, 2026 at 8:00–9:00 a.m. EDT / 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM GMT, frontline experts from the DRC, WHO, Africa CDC, and leading Ebola experts will discuss outbreak response, diagnostics, vaccines, and the Bundibugyo strain
The Global Virus Network (GVN), an international coalition of leading virologists with more than 90 Centers of Excellence and Affiliates in over 40 countries dedicated to advancing pandemic preparedness, will bring together frontline outbreak leaders directly involved in the response effort in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), together with senior leaders from the World Health Organization, Africa CDC, and the international scientific community, on Wednesday, June 10.
Republicans Advance Funding Bill Cutting $2 Billion from Affordable Care Act, Firing 30,000 Teachers and Eliminating Job Training
Washington, D.C. - June 9, 2026 - House Appropriations Committee - During today’s House Appropriations Committee markup of the 2027 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies funding bill, Democrats fought against Republicans’ extreme bill that puts health coverage for millions of Americans at risk, eviscerates public education and job training, and eliminates funding for reproductive health.
Supercharging T-Cells Against HIVs Weak Spots: A New HIV Vaccine Study Reveals New Hope—and New Challenges—for Aging Patients
June 8, 2026 - UNC School of Medicine - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - T-cells are the immune system’s frontline defenders with a crucial role in controlling HIV. In a milestone clinical trial published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers with the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases (IGHID) at the UNC School of Medicine have demonstrated that new vaccines can significantly boost T cells targeting the most vulnerable, conserved regions of HIV—areas considered key to effective immune control. This pivotal finding not only advances our understanding of HIV immunology but also offers hope that these vaccines could contribute to novel, curative approaches against HIV.
Led by principal investigator Nilu Goonetilleke, PhD, and a team of IGHID researchers in collaboration with the University of Oxford, University of Pittsburgh, Accelovir Diagnostics and the National Institutes of Health, the study is the first to test HIV vaccines developed at the University of Oxford in people living with HIV who are receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART).
Gilead and Merck Announce Positive Topline Results from two Phase 3 Studies Evaluating Islatravir/Lenacapavir,
an Oral Once-Weekly HIV Treatment
Foster City, Calif. & Rahway, N.J., June 8, 2026 - Merck & Co., Inc. - Novel Investigational Combination Pairs Merck’s Islatravir, a Next-Generation Nucleoside Analog with Multiple Mechanisms of Action, including Translocation Inhibition, with Gilead’s Lenacapavir, a First-in-Class Capsid Inhibitor that Disrupts HIV at Multiple Stages of its Lifecycle
Islatravir/Lenacapavir has the Potential to be the First Approved Long-Acting Oral HIV Treatment Taken Once-Weekly
Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GILD) and Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, today announced that the primary efficacy endpoint at Week 48 was met in both the Phase 3 ISLEND-1 and ISLEND-2 trials with the investigational oral once-weekly single-tablet HIV treatment regimen of islatravir/lenacapavir. The ISLEND trials are evaluating the efficacy and safety of islatravir 2mg/lenacapavir 300mg (ISL/LEN) in people with HIV who are virologically suppressed switched from BIKTARVY® (bictegravir 50 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg/tenofovir alafenamide 25 mg tablets, B/F/TAF) (ISLEND-1) or daily standard of care antiretroviral regimens (ISLEND-2). The safety profile of ISL/LEN was generally comparable to the other comparator regimens studied in the ISLEND trials, and no new safety concerns were identified. Gilead and Merck plan to file the Phase 3 data from the ISLEND trials with regulatory authorities globally and submit the detailed findings for presentation at a future scientific congress.
Most Cases of HIV Persistence in Blood Following Treatment Explained by Defective Copies of the Virus
June 8, 2026 -Johns Hopkins Medicine - Antiretroviral drugs for HIV infection have enabled most people living with the virus to live long and healthy lives. However, a small portion of people experience detectable — and worrisome — traces of the virus that causes AIDS despite strict adherence to long-term treatment regimens and the absence of symptoms. New findings published in Nature Communications suggest that most cases of this phenomenon, which is called non-suppressible viremia, are explained by defective and noninfectious copies of the virus. The research was partially supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The study, which involved more than 50 people, found that while traces of HIV-1 RNA can persist in blood after optimal therapy, cases of non-suppressible viremia are driven by HIV-1 RNA with defects in a piece of the RNA known as 5’-leader.
Worse HIV control at diagnosis doesn't mean worse lymphoma outcomes
8 June 2026 - By Zekerie Redzheb - aidsmap - The outcomes of lymphoma – one of the most common types of cancer in people with HIV – seem to be largely uninfluenced by viral suppression at the time of diagnosis. Although people with detectable viral load had lower CD4 counts and more advanced lymphoma when diagnosed, their chances of remission and survival were similar to those of people whose HIV was suppressed.
Read more...
World Cup creates perfect conditions for infectious diseases to spread – here are the biggest threats health experts are watching for
June 7, 2026 - The Conversation - When the 2026 FIFA World Cup begins on June 11, 2026, matches will be played across 16 cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Millions of fans will arrive through multiple airports and will pack into stadiums, airports, hotels, bars and public transit systems over five weeks.
That makes the World Cup not just a sporting event but a weekslong experiment in global mixing that creates a perfect environment for infectious diseases to spread. Events of this scale rarely cause major outbreaks, but they do create opportunities for outbreaks and for health systems to be tested.
The possibilities range from the dramatic but unlikely (an imported Ebola case) to the much more probable (flu and measles spreading through crowded venues) and the largely overlooked (spikes in sexually transmitted infections and mosquito-borne diseases gaining footholds in new areas).
At Atlanta ‘Seven Days in June’ Event: “I Will Forget Their Names”
June 7, 2026 - By Mark S. King - My Fabulous Disease - On June 5, 2026, as part of the national “Seven Days in June” campaign, Atlanta advocates held a rally and vigil in Piedmont Park. We told our stories and vented our rage at an administration that is dismantling social safety net programs and gutting public health prevention and treatment efforts.
Our number included Maxx Boykin of PrEP4All, Malcolm Reid of the U.S. People Living with HIV/AIDS Caucus, Dazon Dixon Diallo of Sisterlove, Jeff Graham and Noel Heatherland of Georgia Equality, Allison Glass of Amplify Georgia, the Rev. E.N.Hill, community advocate Jon Greaves, and former CDC employees who have banded together as the National Public Health Coalition, among others.
Here are my remarks at the event, which also marked HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day:
The BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS national Summit raises alarm about rising incidence of HIV in Canada and threats to global progress
VANCOUVER, BC, June 6, 2025 /CNW/ - BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) - Delegates call on Prime Minister to end the Canadian epidemic and lead the worldwide HIV response in light of dramatic US cuts to treatment and care
The BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) is hosting a national Summit of medical and HIV experts to raise the alarm about the rising incidence of HIV in Canada, the immense threat that US cuts to HIV programs pose to millions at risk of disease and death globally, and the need for Canadian leadership to help prevent a resurgence in HIV/AIDS.
Despite the groundbreaking work done to implement the BC-CfE's Treatment as Prevention® (TasP®) and HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) programs in many jurisdictions, Canada is losing ground to HIV/AIDS across the country. The latest available government statistics for 2023 show a 35% uptick in HIV cases in Canada compared to 2022. Anecdotal discussions between BC-CfE and HIV experts across Canada indicate the situation continues to deteriorate, with HIV incidence statistics expected to be higher yet again in 2024 and in 2025.
Flu drugs show promise against cognitive decline, aging-related diseases
CHICAGO - June 5, 2026 - Northwestern Now - Northwestern University - Study in people with HIV and mice identifies new mechanism —and drug target — for memory decline
Study links degradation in sugar molecules to cognitive decline in people with HIV
Scientists analyzed blood samples and immune cells from people with HIV
In mice, flu drugs preserved the sugar molecules, reduced inflammation and protected memory
A class of flu drugs may reduce cognitive decline and premature aging in people living with chronic viral infection, reports a new study led by Northwestern University that began with blood samples from people with HIV and extended into preclinical drug trials.
The findings point to a potential new therapy for cognitive problems in people with HIV, with broader implications for other aging-related diseases, such as dementia.
Press Release: HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day: Survivors Gather in Sitges to Preserve Stories and Shape the Future
June 5, 2026 - by Jeff Berry - THE REUNION PROJECT - As the world marks HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day on June 5, a recent international gathering in Sitges, Spain, highlighted the power of storytelling, community, and lived experience in shaping the future of the HIV response.
In March, from 25 to 28, 2026, long-term and lifetime survivors of HIV from Europe, the United States, and Canada came together for the HIV Long-Term Survivors of HIV Summit in Sitges, near Barcelona. The gathering created space for survivors across generations and communities to connect, reflect, and share their experiences of aging with HIV.
More than a conference, the Summit was an opportunity for people who have lived through decades of the epidemic to learn from one another, discuss ongoing challenges, and help build a shared “Legacy Chest”, a digital audiovisual collection of survivor stories intended to educate, inspire, and support advocacy for years to come.
For Long-Term Survivors, HIV Is Just a Piece of the Puzzle
June 5, 2026 - amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research - amfAR Trustee Phill Wilson reflects on his journey living with HIV for over four decades—his personal losses, his HIV advocacy, and staying on top of his health as he ages
“I never expected to turn 70. I didn’t plan on turning 70, but here I am,” Phill Wilson, founder of the Black AIDS Institute (BAI) and amfAR Trustee, said of his recent birthday. “And I’m not only 70, but I’m 70 with HIV and I’m 70 with diabetes and I’m 70 with heart disease and I’m 70 with liver disease and kidney disease…”
Blueprint of a cure: The rare people who are invulnerable to HIV
June 5, 2026 - By David Cox - BBC - Scientists are studying the few extraordinary individuals whose bodies seem able to naturally defend themselves from HIV in the hope of finding new cures.
For more than three decades, Loreen Willenberg, a 71-year-old landscape designer living in Sacramento, California, was known to HIV scientists as an intriguing anomaly.
Read more...
South Africa rolls out game-changing HIV shot amid funding shortfalls
JOHANNESBURG - June 5, 2026 - By Kate Bartlett - NPR - South Africa rolled out a new, biannual HIV prevention drug on Friday that has the potential to drastically cut infection rates, but U.S. aid cuts mean access will be limited.
Lenacapavir, a kind of Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), is injected into the stomach every six months and is basically failproof at preventing high-risk individuals from contracting the virus.
Read more...
HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day
5 juin, 2026 - Realize - Safeguarding Survivors’ Stories, Shaping The Future
From March 25-28, alongside participants from Canada, the U.S., and Europe, Realize Interim Co-Executive Director Kate Murzin attended The Long-Term Survivors of HIV Summit in Sitges, Spain, near Barcelona. The event was co-ordinated by Realize, European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG) in Europe, and Ribbon – A Center of Excellence and The Reunion Project in the U.S. The theme was "Honouring the Past, Shaping the Future."
Journée des survivants à long terme du VIH
5 juin, 2026 - Réalise - Préserver les récits des survivants et façonner l’avenir
Aujourd'hui, le 5 juin, marque la Journée de sensibilisation aux survivants à long terme du VIH, une occasion de souligner la résilience des personnes qui vivent avec le VIH depuis le plus longtemps. Du 25 au 28 mars, aux côtés de participants du Canada, des États-Unis et de l'Europe, Kate Murzin, codirectrice générale intérimaire de Réalise, a participé au Sommet des survivants à long terme du VIH à Sitges, en Espagne, près de Barcelone. L'événement a été coordonné par Réalise, le European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG) en Europe, ainsi que Ribbon – A Center of Excellence et The Reunion Project aux États-Unis. Le thème du sommet était : « Honorer le passé, façonner l'avenir ».
uOttawa launches HALO initiative to support Canada’s AI healthcare strategy
June 4, 2026 - By Paul Logothetis - University of Ottawa - AI scholars from across campus partner to support the transformation of Canada’s AI health system by connecting academia, hospitals, government, and innovators and providing legal, policy and data asset guidance, and expertise to help improve care.
With the federal government unveiling its national artificial intelligence strategy as well as strategic investments in health data, the University of Ottawa is stepping up its support of Canada’s commitment to healthcare by launching an innovative new interdisciplinary collaboration to help position Canada as a global leader in health AI.
HALO – Health AI and Law in Ottawa north – unites expertise in health AI, data and law from uOttawa’s faculties, research institutes and specialized centres, bringing together the university’s world leading experts in health data, law and policy to support the efforts of governments and industry.
Lenacapavir (Yeytuo) injected every six months approved for HIV prevention in Canada
June 4, 2026 - Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE) - A long-acting injectable formulation of lenacapavir for HIV prevention was approved in Canada
In clinical trials this drug was highly effective at significantly reducing the risk of HIV
It proved superior to daily oral HIV prevention and was generally well tolerated in trials
A long-acting injectable formulation of the HIV drug lenacapavir developed for the prevention of HIV was approved in Canada. In well-designed clinical trials, long-acting lenacapavir was found to be highly effective (more than 99.9 per cent) at reducing the risk of HIV infection. Furthermore, this drug has been found to be superior to daily oral tenofovir DF + FTC (a combination sold as Truvada and available in generic formulations). One factor that may be driving this superiority is the reduced adherence requirements associated with injectable lenacapavir (two injections every six months versus daily pill taking).
Lenacapavir is manufactured by Gilead Sciences. The formulation of long-acting lenacapavir for HIV prevention is called Yeytuo in Canada and the European Union; it is called Yeztugo in the United States
Forty-Five Years Later: The Strange Grace of Being a Long-Term HIV Survivor
June 4, 2026 - By Tom Duane - POZ - 45 years after AIDS was first reported, HIV long-term survivor Tom Duane honors loss, resilience, activism, and hope for ending AIDS.
The HIV community is about to mark a staggering milestone: the 45th anniversary of the first reported cases of AIDS in the United States. On June 5, 1981, the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report described five young gay men in Los Angeles with a rare pneumonia normally seen only in severely immunocompromised patients.
Forty-five years. That number feels almost impossible.
Read more...
HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day 2026
June 4, 2026 - By Trent Straube - POZ - #HLTSAD is observed each June 5. On that day in 1981, the CDC first reported on cases of a mysterious disease that became known as AIDS.
Friday, June 5, marks HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day (HLTSAD) 2026. The date coincides with a historical milestone in the history of the AIDS epidemic. On June 5, 1981—45 years ago—the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), a publication of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, first reported on cases of a mysterious illness affecting young gay men; the disease soon became known as AIDS, which is caused by untreated HIV.
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Appeals court clarifies that people living with HIV can join the military again
The decision marks the latest setback for a Pentagon policy that advocates say is rooted in outdated assumptions about HIV and service readiness.
Jun O3, 2026 - By Christopher Wiggins - ADVOCATE - Just days after a federal appeals court revived a major challenge to the military's enlistment ban, the same court has clarified that qualified people living with HIV can once again join the armed forces while the case moves forward.
Read more...
Global Fund Board Selects New Chair and Vice-Chair
GENEVA – 2 June 2026 - The Global Fund - The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) announced today they selected Erna Solberg, the former Prime Minister of Norway, as the new Chair, and Javier Hourcade Bellocq, a global public health leader and current member of the Global Fund Board, as Vice-Chair. They will be serving a three-year term beginning in late October.
Activists Arrested Protesting Secretary Rubio’s New Attacks on Lifesaving Global AIDS and Health Programs During Senate Foreign Relations Committee Testimony
(Washington, DC) - June 2, 2026 - Health Gap - 10 activists from Housing Works, Health GAP, Treatment Action Group and ACT UP were arrested today in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, disrupting Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The activists held signs and chanted “Rubio’s Cuts Kill People with AIDS, PEPFAR Saves Lives!” as they were arrested by Capitol Police.
The activists were protesting new attacks by Rubio on lifesaving global HIV and health programs, and were demanding lawmakers block implementation of these plans. After cancelling thousands of lifesaving health awards in 2025 when he gutted USAID, Marco Rubio is now abruptly eliminating the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) role in implementing global HIV programs, including CDC’s global capabilities in disease outbreak and surveillance for pandemics beyond HIV.
T cells may be key to stopping measles virus—and its deadly relatives
LA JOLLA, CA -June 2, 2026 - La Jolla Institute for Immunology - LJI researchers discover that 'cross-reactive' T cells can recognize measles and the highly lethal Nipah virus
Measles cases are rising, and many are concerned about a closely related virus called Nipah virus.
Scientists are eager to develop vaccines or therapies to fight these viruses and their relatives across the paramyxovirus family.
In a new study, scientists from La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) show exactly how “cross-reactive” T cells can recognize many species of paramyxovirus at once.
These findings may guide the development of new vaccines and therapies that stop measles, Nipah, and other paramyxovirus infections before they turn deadly.
T cells are some of the immune system’s most important warriors. They can stop tumor growth and even fight off severe infections. Now scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) have discovered how T cells target paramyxoviruses, a viral family that includes measles virus and Nipah virus.
Paramyxoviruses are pathogens of pandemic concern. Measles virus is highly infectious, and Nipah virus has a high mortality rate. The new study shows how we might harness T cells to save lives.
University Libraries to Host Traveling HIV/AIDS Poster Exhibit
June 2, 2026 - UToday - THE UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO - University Libraries at The University of Toledo will host a traveling exhibition, AIDS, Posters & Stories of Public Health: A People’s History of a Pandemic, from June 1 through July 10 across two campus locations.
The exhibition will be on display at the Carlson Library North Gallery from June 1–20, followed by the Mulford Library from June 21–July 10.
Produced by the National Library of Medicine, the exhibit explores the history of HIV/AIDS through public health posters created by artists, activists and community organizations.
The Long Run Against AIDS
Jun 2, 2026 - By Christina Ray Stanton - TIME - In the early 1980s, as AIDS began its terrifying spread through New York’s gay community, Brent Nicholson Earle was an actor and house manager finally living openly in the city he adored. One morning, after a long night out dancing at The Saint, record executive and nightclub boss Mel Cheren stopped Earle with a challenge that would change his life.
“If all you’re doing is taking,” Cheren said, “you’re not really part of us. You have to give something back. And your community is in trouble. Figure out what you can do to help.”
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Elton John dishes on his legacy & encourages queer people to fight political ‘hostility’ (exclusive)
Jun 1, 2026 - By Ricky Cornish - Out Magazine - Alongside his husband David Furnish, the iconic musician is changing lives with his latest initiative for Pride Month.
There's no living legend quite like Elton John.
With plenty of accolades under his belt and millions of records sold worldwide, the EGOT winner has gone beyond just entertaining his fans across the globe.
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Bepirovirsen leads to functional cure in one fifth of people with long-term hepatitis B
1 June 2026 - By Liz Highleyman - aidsmap - One in five people with chronic (long term) hepatitis B who were treated with the investigational agent bepirovirsen were functionally cured and no longer needed to take daily antiviral therapy, according to late-stage study results presented last week at the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) Congress in Barcelona and published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
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From denial to hope: How community support is helping HIV patients stay on treatment
June 1, 2026 - By Sarah Owermohle - The Herald - WHEN Ms Bridget Moyo* tested positive for HIV in November last year, her world came crashing down.
After 36 years of marriage, the Beitbridge village health worker discovered that the virus had entered her home through her husband’s extra-marital affair. Although both were immediately placed on antiretroviral therapy (ART), she could not bring herself to accept the diagnosis.
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‘AIDS DIVA’ screening honors Connie Norman’s legacy
June 1, 2026 - By Noah Christiansen - Los Angeles Blade - The documentary screening at CASA 0101 honors the ACT UP icon, whose fight for transgender rights and AIDS activism remains relevant today
A free community screening of AIDS Diva: The Legend of Connie Norman will take place Thursday, June 4, at CASA 0101 in Boyle Heights, honoring the life and legacy of one of Los Angeles’’ most powerful transgender AIDS activists.
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Pride in the Trenches: Mitigating Global and Local HIV Setbacks
June 1, 2026 - By Tim Murphy - POZ - Asia Russell and Omar Martínez González are seeking increased advocacy.
This Pride season, meet some of the queer members of the HIV community who’ve been fighting back the hardest, day in and day out—and even notching victories.
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