Health inequities and disparities disproportionately affect Black people and other historically marginalized groups at rates above the U.S. population average. These disparities include HIV outcomes. Experiences of racism, discrimination, and mistrust in science and health systems continue to prevent Black people from receiving quality HIV prevention, treatment, and care services. NIAID supports research centered on the needs and experiences of Black Americans to inform the HIV response. On the 25^th anniversary of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, NIAID highlights two ongoing efforts focused on generating evidence to reduce HIV burden among Black Americans and increase the representation of Black communities and investigators in HIV science.

Integrated HIV Prevention Among Black Gay, Bisexual and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men in the South

NIAID sponsors an HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) study called HPTN 096: Building Equity Through Advocacy, which prioritizes the health of Black cisgender and transgender men who have sex with men in the southern United States. A pilot study was performed and is informing development and refinement of the next phase. The study is planning to focus on five communities prioritized in the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. (EHE) initiative. HPTN 096 is examining interventions designed to address social, structural, institutional and behavioral factors known to limit access to HIV prevention and care. Key study interventions include:

• Partnership with community leaders to advocate, educate, and mobilize local health and other service providers to achieve health equity;
• Social media collaborations to develop and disseminate messaging about HIV viral suppression and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP); 
• The Culturally Responsive Intersectional Stigma Prevention (CRISP) intervention to train healthcare providers on how to support men who experience multiple layers of injustice due to racism, sexual stigma, gender nonconformity stigma, and HIV-related stigma in health care environments; and
• Training men as HIV peer support workers to provide knowledge, and education on HIV-related topics, such as PrEP and antiretroviral therapy (ART), and direct participants to local resources. 

The main study outcomes will be measured by looking at electronic medical record data from participating healthcare facilities in the CRISP component to see if there are changes in three main areas: retention in care and viral suppression, PrEP uptake, and the number of Black men who receive services at these facilities. Other study outcomes will look at the implementation and potential impacts of each component of the strategy. A sample of participants will be recruited from participating healthcare facilities to complete surveys about their healthcare experiences during the study.

Increasing Representation of Black Scientists in HIV Research 

The Centers for AIDS Research (CFARs) are co-funded by 11 NIH institutes and centers, including NIAID. The CFAR Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Pathway Initiative (CDEIPI) is a NIH-supported pathways program dedicated to increasing the presence of underrepresented minorities in the science and medicine fields. As CFAR scholars, the trainees receive educational and professional training at various academic levels including high school, undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral in HIV science. In collaboration with U.S. Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions, the CDEIPI establishes and enhances workforce development programs within the CFAR network.

Black History Month Spotlight 

The month of February also marks Black History Month. This post is dedicated to Robert Rayford, a teenager in St. Louis, Missouri who was the first known Black American with HIV. Rayford admitted himself into St. Louis City Hospital in 1968 after experiencing unusual symptoms which led to his passing in 1969. The particulars of his health condition remained a mystery for years until researchers finally confirmed the presence of HIV in his blood later in 1987. Rayford’s story demonstrates the complexity of HIV pathogenesis, and his experience informed early HIV research in the United States. Read more about Rayford’s story here. 

The 2024 U.S. government theme for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is “Engage, Educate, Empower: Uniting to End HIV/AIDS in Black Communities.” NIAID remains committed to advancing HIV science while improving the health outcomes of Black Americans affected by HIV. We extend our sincere gratitude to the community leaders and partners who make this work possible. 

Following a peak in the summer of 2022, new infections in the mpox clade IIb outbreak have decreased, due in part to the rapid availability and uptake of vaccines and other preventive measures. However, mpox remains a health threat, and no treatment has been proven safe and effective for people experiencing mpox disease.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, launched the STOMP trial to determine whether the antiviral drug tecovirimat can safely and effectively treat mpox. Tecovirimat, also known as TPOXX, was initially developed and approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat smallpox—a species of virus closely related to mpox—but the drug’s safety and efficacy as an mpox treatment has not been established. The STOMP trial is a phase 3 study that aims to enroll about 500 people—a process that may require considerable time while mpox burden is low in study countries. NIAID continues to prioritize this study even while case counts are low.

VIDEO: Cyrus Javan of NIAID’s Division of AIDS explains the importance of the STOMP trial (audio description version here):

The STOMP trial was designed to be as inclusive as possible to ensure study results provide information on how tecovirimat works in the diverse populations affected by mpox. The trial is enrolling adults and children of all races and sexes, people with HIV, and pregnant and lactating people across 60 sites in the United States and Mexico, with an option for remote enrollment from other U.S. locations. More sites are expected to open in East Asia and South America.

The mpox virus has been endemic—occurring regularly—in west, central and east Africa since the first case of human mpox disease was identified in 1970. Mpox can cause flu-like symptoms and painful blisters or sores on the skin. People who acquire mpox tend to clear the infection on their own, but the virus can cause serious disease in children, pregnant people, and other people with compromised immune systems, including individuals with advanced HIV disease. Rare but serious complications of mpox include dehydration, bacterial infections, pneumonia, brain inflammation, sepsis, eye infections and death.

Completing the STOMP trial is essential, not only to evaluate a therapeutic option for the current mpox outbreak, but also to guide preparation for future outbreaks and provide evidence that could inform medical practice in historically endemic countries. The STOMP trial is sponsored by NIAID and led by the NIAID-funded Advancing Clinical Therapeutics Globally for HIV/AIDS and Other Infections (ACTG).

Beyond STOMP, NIAID is co-sponsoring the PALM007 trial of tecovirimat as treatment for clade I mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with the DRC’s National Institute of Biomedical Research. PALM007 is actively enrolling. In addition, NIAID is sponsoring an immunogenicity study of the JYNNEOS preventive vaccine, which has completed enrollment and is expected to report initial results in 2024. More information about these studies, including enrollment in STOMP and PALM007, is available here:

STOMP tecovirimat treatment study 
PALM007 tecovirimat treatment study
JYNNEOS vaccine study

Viral hepatitis is an inflammatory liver disease caused by infection with any of the known hepatitis viruses—A, B, C, D, and E. Most of the global viral hepatitis burden is from hepatitis B and C, which affect 354 million people and result in 1.1 million deaths annually. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in 2020 there were 14,000 and 50,300 new acute infections of hepatitis B and C in the United States, respectively, while at least 880,000 people in the country were living with chronic (long-term) hepatitis B and 2.4 million people had chronic hepatitis C. About half of those with viral hepatitis are unaware of their infection. Chronic and persistent inflammation from the disease can lead to liver failure, cirrhosis, or liver cancer. Viral hepatitis affects all ages and there are pronounced inequities in disease outcomes in the United States. Hepatitis B and C disproportionately affect people living with HIV, and HIV increases the rate of complications and death in people with viral hepatitis.

On this World Hepatitis Day, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, shares a snapshot of its investments in basic (laboratory), preclinical (laboratory/animal), and clinical (human) research to improve screening, prevention and treatment for hepatitis B and C. Scientists in the Hepatic Pathogenesis and Structural Virology sections of NIAID’s Laboratory of Infectious Diseases conduct basic and translational research to better understand hepatitis B and C disease progression, clarify the role of hepatitis viruses in liver cancer, and inform discovery of new vaccines, medicine and technologies. Both NIAID’s Division of AIDS (DAIDS) and the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Disease (DMID) support scientific programs focused on hepatitis B and C research and curative strategies, reflecting the widespread impact of viral hepatitis and the urgent need for safe and effective interventions.

Finding a hepatitis B cure

Hepatitis B continues to cause disease and death even though a highly effective preventive vaccine has been available for decades. Some people with acute hepatitis B can naturally clear the infection. In others, chronic HBV requires lifelong treatment to suppress the virus. More research is need to identify novel therapeutic options and strategies to minimize the treatment burden and, ideally, identify a cure for hepatitis B. NIAID is supporting research on a variety of basic, translational and therapeutic science concepts designed to cure hepatitis B, including in people with HIV. DMID recently announced an initiative to develop new antiviral drugs that can eliminate hepatitis B genetic material from infected cells, and DAIDS is complementing that work with clinical studies of therapeutic agents and vaccines that will include evaluation of their safety and efficacy in people living with HIV.

Streamlining the hepatitis C response

In 2011, direct-acting antivirals (DAA) revolutionized hepatitis C therapy and have since been observed to cure 95% of cases. Despite DAA availability for more than a decade, only one in three people in the United States diagnosed with hepatitis C receive curative treatment. These circumstances underscore the importance of increasing access to and convenience of diagnosis and treatment, as well as the need for a preventive vaccine. Developing a hepatitis C vaccine is challenging because of the genetic diversity of hepatitis C circulating in the population, necessitating broadly reactive vaccine technology. DMID awarded multiple grants to advance new hepatitis C vaccine designs in 2021. To better enable people to know their hepatitis C status, NIAID and other NIH institutes are supporting discovery of improved point-of-care hepatitis C testing that could be used in community and healthcare settings alike, and eliminate the need to wait for laboratory-based diagnostics. They are also supporting development of self-testing technology that people can use to screen themselves. DAIDS will soon launch an initiative to develop long-acting DAAs that could reduce the number of doses required for a full course of therapy. A recent NIAID-supported study showed even with an existing 84-tablet DAA regimen, most people with hepatitis C experienced favorable treatment outcomes without in-person healthcare visits for the duration of treatment. These innovations in diagnostics and treatment strategies aim to enable a “single-encounter cure” wherein a person could learn their hepatitis C status and collect their treatment in one healthcare visit.

These research priorities are among the current efforts in NIAID’s 60-year pursuit of scientific advances to improve the health outcomes of people with viral hepatitis. For more information on US government research to help eliminate viral hepatitis, please visit:

• NIAID Diseases & Conditions: Hepatitis
• Trans-NIH Strategic Plan to Cure Hepatitis B
• Health and Human Services Viral Hepatitis National Strategic Plan

This blog is cross-posted from HIV.gov.

As the International AIDS Society’s 12th Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2023) conference drew to a close on Wednesday, HIV.gov continued our conversations about the latest research being presented, with updates on post-exposure prophylaxis for STIs (Doxy-PEP), implementation of HIV PrEP, and the effectiveness of U=U.

Miguel Gomez, Director of HIV.gov, spoke with Carl Dieffenbach, Ph.D., and Louis Shackelford, M.P.H., about HIV and STI prevention science presented at the conference. Carl is Director of the Division of AIDS at NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Louis is Acting Director for External Relations at the NIH-supported HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN). First, they discussed insights into the research reported last year about the effectiveness of what has become known as “Doxy-PEP”—the use of the drug doxycycline as post-exposure prophylaxis for sexually transmitted infections, particularly in the context of condomless sex while taking HIV PrEP. Louis also pointed to the need to tackle stigma and discrimination that contributes to disparities in PrEP use.

Carl and Louis also shared thoughts on their main conference takeaways. Carl reiterated the significance of the REPRIEVE study findings discussed earlier this week. He also noted discussions around the ongoing need to address significant structural, implementation, and messaging challenges to scale up PrEP and PEP everywhere. Louis spoke about presentations on innovative ways to communicate about HIV research. View their conversation below:

Finally, Miguel spoke with Erica Crittendon, M.P.H., M.S., a third-year student at the University of Washington Medical School, and Louis about their conference highlights. Erica discussed her poster presentation about the impact of internalized HIV stigma on care outcomes among a cohort of people with HIV in Durban, South Africa. She found that higher levels of internalized stigma resulted in greater risks of dropping out of care. Louis noted that he was pleased to join many sessions about ways to enhance community engagement in HIV research, noting he had gathered several ideas from other countries that he’ll bring to his work.

Erica shared that another highlight for her was the new World Health Organization (WHO) guidance on HIV viral suppression which reinforces that people with HIV who achieve and maintain an undetectable level of virus by consistent use of antiretroviral therapy, do not transmit HIV to their sexual partner(s) and are at low risk of transmitting HIV vertically to their children. The evidence in the WHO guidance further indicates that there is negligible, or almost zero, risk of transmitting HIV when a person has an HIV viral load measurement of less than or equal to 1000 copies per mL, also commonly referred to as having a suppressed viral load.

View their conversation below:

IAS 2023, convened in Brisbane, Australia, and featured the latest advances in basic, clinical, and operational HIV research presented in many plenary sessions, symposia, oral abstract sessions, and poster sessions. Videos of the conference sessions and access to the abstracts will be available to the public beginning October 31, 2023, on the IAS website.

As is the custom in Australia, HIV.gov acknowledges the Jagera and Turrbal people as the Traditional Custodians of Meanjin (Brisbane), the land on which IAS 2023 is taking place. We pay our respects to Jagera and Turrbal elders past, present, and emerging.

See all of our conversations from IAS 2023 here on the blog as well as on HIV.gov’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and on the LinkedIn account of the HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy.

This blog is cross-posted from HIV.gov. 

On Tuesday at the International AIDS Society’s 12th Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2023), HIV.gov continued our conversations about research highlights, including a focus on the latest about HIV vaccines. We also heard an update from the NIH Office of AIDS Research.

NIH’s Carl Dieffenbach, Ph.D., Director of the Division of AIDS at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), spoke with Louis Shackelford, M.P.H., about HIV vaccine studies being discussed at IAS 2023 and potential roles for broadly neutralizing antibodies (or bNAbs). Louis is the Acting Director for External Relations at the NIH-supported HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) and COVID-19 Prevention Network. Noting it is an exciting time in HIV vaccine research, Carl explained that scientists are exploring how to take what we have learned about bNAbs, which prevented acquisition of some HIV strains, and turn that into an HIV vaccine. In addition, Carl and Louis discussed how bNAbs are being studied for use in HIV treatment and even, possibly, a cure. View their conversation below:

Bill Kapogiannis, M.D., Acting Director of NIH’s Office of AIDS Research (OAR), spoke with Catey Laube, Section Chief for HIV, STIs, Allergy, Immunology, and Transplantation in NIAID’s Office of Communications and Government Relations. OAR coordinates the scientific, budgetary, legislative, and policy components of HIV/AIDS research across NIH’s institutes and centers. Bill discussed the importance of the results from the NIH-supported REPRIEVE trial presented yesterday at the conference. The global study found that statins, a class of cholesterol-lowering medications, may offset the elevated risk of cardiovascular disease experienced by people with HIV by more than a third, potentially preventing one in five major cardiovascular events (e.g., heart attack or stroke) or premature deaths in this population. He noted that these important findings have implications for clinical guidelines for the care of people with HIV. Bill also observed that the findings are relevant to two of OAR’s signature programs: HIV and Aging, since the study population was people with HIV ages 40-75, and HIV and Women, since the results were equally applicable to women. View their conversation below:

IAS 2023, convening in Brisbane, Australia, features the latest advances in basic, clinical, and operational HIV research and seeks to move science into policy and practice. The conference features seven plenary sessions, more than 60 symposia and oral abstract sessions, hundreds of poster sessions, and many satellite sessions featuring highly diverse and cutting-edge research. Many of the studies that are being presented have been conducted by or funded by federal partners, including NIH, CDC, PEPFAR, DoD, and others.

As is the custom in Australia, HIV.gov acknowledges the Jagera and Turrbal people as the Traditional Custodians of Meanjin (Brisbane), the land on which IAS 2023 is taking place. We pay our respects to Jagera and Turrbal elders past, present, and emerging.

Follow all of our conversations from IAS 2023 this week here on the blog as well as on on HIV.gov’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and on the LinkedIn account of the HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy.

This blog is cross-posted from HIV.gov.

During the first full day of sessions at the International AIDS Society’s 12th Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2023), HIV.gov shared conversations on important study findings about reducing cardiovascular disease among people with HIV and the latest developments with long-acting prevention and treatment options that could one day become safe and effective alternatives to daily oral pills.

NIH’s Carl Dieffenbach discussed findings presented today about the NIH-supported Randomized Trial to Prevent Vascular Events in HIV (REPRIEVE) trial, a global study that demonstrated a daily statin medication reduces the increased risk of cardiovascular disease experienced by people living with HIV. (Learn more in this NIH news release published today.) Dr. Dieffenbach is the Director of the Division of AIDS at NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). He spoke today with Molly Moon, M.S.W., Deputy Director of the NIH-supported Office of HIV/AIDS Network Coordination. They also discussed progress reported at IAS 2023 from several studies investigating long-acting HIV prevention and treatment options, including some that were presented in a plenary session that Carl chaired today. Carl summarized that long-acting options are moving toward better drugs with lower doses and longer durations. View their conversation below:

To learn more about what the results of the REPRIEVE trial mean, Molly also spoke with Steven Grinspoon, M.D., professor of medicine at Harvard University and chief of the metabolism unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, who led the REPRIEVE study. Steven highlighted that this global trial, involving participants in 12 countries, found that the use of the statin pitavastatin calcium reduced the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events—including heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular death—among people with HIV by 35%. He added that the study found that the intervention was equally efficacious among men and women. Simultaneous to their presentation at IAS 2023, the REPRIEVE study findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

IAS 2023, convening in Brisbane, Australia, features the latest advances in basic, clinical, and operational HIV research and seeks to move science into policy and practice. The conference features seven plenary sessions, more than 60 symposia and oral abstract sessions, hundreds of poster sessions, and many satellite sessions featuring highly diverse and cutting-edge research. Many of the studies that will be presented have been conducted by or funded by federal partners, including NIH, CDC, PEPFAR, DoD, and others.

As is the custom in Australia, HIV.gov acknowledges the Jagera and the Turrbal people as the Traditional Custodians of Meanjin (Brisbane), the land on which IAS 2023 is taking place. We pay our respects to Jagera and Turrbal elders past, present, and emerging.

Follow all of our conversations from IAS 2023 this week on HIV.gov’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and on the LinkedIn account of the HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy.

This blog is cross-posted from HIV.gov.

The International AIDS Society’s 12th Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2023) opened Sunday, with thousands of scientists, policy leaders, and advocates gathered to present and discuss the latest advances in HIV research. HIV.gov’s coverage of the conference began with two video conversations looking ahead to the exciting research that will be presented.

Carl Dieffenbach, Ph.D., Director of the Division of AIDS at NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), spoke with Brian Minalga, M.S.W., about some of the presentations he’s looking forward to hearing at the conference, including the REPRIEVE trial results and the latest developments with both broadly neutralizing antibodies and long-acting drugs for HIV treatment and prevention. Brian is the Deputy Director of the NIH-supported Office of HIV/AIDS Network Coordination.

They also discussed the latest on mpox research, including the NIAID-supported STOMP trial. That trial is evaluating the efficacy of the antiviral drug tecovirimat, also known as TPOXX, for the treatment of mpox and is still enrolling participants. Both Carl and Brian will be joining HIV.gov for more conversations during the conference. View their first conversation below:

Also as the conference was opening, Catey Laube, Section Chief for HIV, STIs, Allergy, Immunology, and Transplantation in NIAID’s Office of Communications and Government Relations, spoke with Brian and Louis Shackelford, M.P.H., Acting Director of External Relations at the NIH-supported HIV Vaccine Trials Network and COVID-19 Prevention Network at Fred Hutch, about some of the issues and themes they are most interested in hearing about at the conference. Both Louis and Brian expressed interest in hearing about how communities are being engaged in HIV research and program implementation, ranging from the use of existing biomedical interventions for HIV prevention and treatment to the exploration of potential new tools such as broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) as well as in HIV cure research. View their conversation below:

IAS 2023, convening in Brisbane, Australia, features the latest advances in basic, clinical, and operational HIV research and seeks to move science into policy and practice. The conference features seven plenary sessions, more than 60 symposia and oral abstract sessions, hundreds of poster sessions, and many satellite sessions featuring highly diverse and cutting-edge research. Many of the studies that will be presented have been conducted by or funded by federal partners, including NIH, CDC, PEPFAR, DoD, and others.

As is custom in Australia, HIV.gov acknowledges the Jagera people and the Turrbal people as the Traditional Custodians of Meanjin (Brisbane), the land on which IAS 2023 is taking place. We pay our respects to Jagera and Turrbal elders past, present, and emerging.

Follow all of our conversations from IAS 2023 this week on HIV.gov’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and on the LinkedIn account of the HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy.