AfNHi is an Africa regional advocacy network, which exists to unite African Civil Society voices and action on regional advocacy for HIV prevention research. AfNHi is committed to influencing Africa regional policies in order to accelerate ethical development and delivery of HIV prevention tools towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
The last four years have seen significant and promising changes in the field of HIV, with new understandings radically changing the prevention landscape, and continued improvements in treatments leading to a shift in the needs of People Living with HIV in relation to health promotion, care and support. Advances in science in the last two decades have led to tremendous progress against HIV. Breakthroughs in HIV treatment and prevention research have allowed HIV response efforts to halt and begin to reverse spread of the HIV epidemic. Biomedical approaches such as rapid and user-friendly HIV tests and affordable and effective antiretroviral treatment for people living with HIV have changed the landscape of the HIV response. Other impactful prevention tools have included voluntary medical male circumcision, male and female condoms, and oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), among others.
As a continent, we will not end the AIDS epidemic if we do not promote HIV prevention research advocacy. The time to address these gaps is now. Going forward, therefore, AfNHi’s HIV prevention programming in Africa, including investment for the development of new biomedical HIV prevention tools, will be based on evidence – the nature of the epidemic, approaches that work, data on priority. Our advocates will consistently push for the regional and national plans that achieve scale and coverage with involvement of the people to make determinations about their needs
