A survey of over half a million people in low- and middle-income countries found that men and women with disabilities were 25% less likely to have comprehensive knowledge about HIV prevention compared to people without disabilities. They were also less likely to know a place to be tested for HIV. Additionally, women with disabilities were less likely to know how to prevent vertical transmission and to have ever been tested for HIV compared to women without disabilities.

A comprehensive national effort to improve the uptake of cervical screening among women living with HIV in Uganda resulted in more than 280,000 screening visits in the second year of the campaign, up from just 6500 visits in the first six months. The proportion of women with a positive result who received treatment increased from 12% to 84% during the same period, almost achieving the 90% target set by the World Health Organization for cervical cancer elimination by 2030.

The emergence of high-level dolutegravir resistance was extremely rare in people switched to first-line dolutegravir-based treatment in Zambia and Malawi, a large prospective study has found. But the risk of having unsuppressed HIV one and two years after switching was six to seven times higher in people who switched to dolutegravir with detectable HIV. The researchers say their findings emphasise the importance of viral load monitoring before switching. The study findings are reported in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Evidence for the effectiveness of the alternative formulation of oral PrEP in women was presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) in San Francisco last week.

Two new long-acting antiretroviral drugs, VH-184 and VH-499, have demonstrated similar potency to the best available antiretrovirals currently in use in phase 2a proof-of-concept trials, according to findings presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) in San Francisco this week.

N6LS, a broadly neutralising antibody from ViiV Healthcare, could potentially be a partner for cabotegravir (Vocabria) in a long-acting HIV treatment regimen, according to results from the EMBRACE study presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) in San Francisco.

Over the past week at The Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) in San Francisco, we have been reminded that Latin America is one of the few global regions where new HIV cases have continued to rise since 2010, even though pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has been available for more than a decade.

As Gilead Sciences prepares to launch twice-yearly lenacapavir pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) later this year, the company is also developing once-yearly formulations that could make an even greater contribution to ending the HIV epidemic.

Most people with unsuppressed HIV in a large population study in Uganda were already diagnosed but not in clinical care, suggesting that re-engaging people with HIV and ensuring that they are receiving antiretroviral treatment could have a substantial impact on HIV transmission. The findings were presented last week at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) in San Francisco.

Two clinical trials presented last week at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) in San Francisco show that a two-drug regimen of doravirine / islatravir is non-inferior to commonly prescribed HIV drug combinations in maintaining viral suppression in adults with HIV. Islatravir is a new type of antiretroviral drug, a nucleoside reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitor, which works in a different way from previous drugs of the nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor class.

Research from an 18-year Spanish cohort presented to the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) in San Francisco last week showed a significant reduction in severe non-AIDS events – such as heart attacks and non-AIDS cancers – over time. Other outcomes, such as hypertension and dementia, remained relatively stable over time in this cohort, with no significant increases. Dr Alejandro Garcia, from the Hospital Ramón y Cajal in Madrid, presented these results.

Injectable PrEP clearly works at least as well for cisgender women having vaginal sex as it does for people having anal sex. But there remains some uncertainty as to whether the much lower effectiveness of oral PrEP seen in most studies in women is entirely due to poorer adherence, or whether biological differences in drug absorption and elimination also contribute.

Nearly one in five children with HIV under the age of one year who experienced an interruption in treatment in 2024 subsequently died, a review of over half a million children receiving HIV treatment through US-funded PEPFAR programmes shows. The findings were presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) in San Francisco on Monday.

Two broadly neutralising antibodies, teropavimab and zinlirvimab, might be good partners for lenacapavir (Sunlenca) in a long-acting HIV treatment regimen, according to study results presented yesterday at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) in San Francisco.

The day before the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) opened in San Francisco on Sunday, there was a community workshop on HIV cure science, at which Dr Michael Peluso, a local HIV physician and cure researcher, flagged up two studies to look out for.

The global HIV response is suffering serious disruption due to cuts in US government funding, the closure of USAID and a lack of clarity about future financing, Professor Chris Beyrer, Director of the Duke Global Health Institute at Duke University, North Carolina, told the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) in San Francisco on Monday.

Two more people appear to be free of HIV after stem cell transplants for cancer treatment, according to a pair of posters presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2025) this week in San Francisco. If the men remain in remission, they will be the eighth and ninth cases of a functional cure after the procedure.

News reporting by aidsmap will be restarting next week, under the new stewardship of Terrence Higgins Trust.

With deep regret the trustees of NAM Publications, publishers of aidsmap.com, decided in July 2024 that the charity was no longer financially sustainable. While honouring their commitment to staff, partners and service users, the trustees set about ensuring a longevity for the assets aidsmap had built up over four decades.

A survey of over half a million people in low- and middle-income countries found that men and women with disabilities were 25% less likely to have comprehensive knowledge about HIV prevention compared to people without disabilities. They were also less likely to know a place to be tested for HIV. Additionally, women with disabilities were less likely to know how to prevent vertical transmission and to have ever been tested for HIV compared to women without disabilities.