AIDS 2026: Access key to ending AIDS by 2030
Experts at the AIDS 2026 conference in Brazil emphasized that equitable access to new long-acting HIV prevention medicines is now a greater challenge than scientific innovation. They urged governments to invest in community delivery systems to ensure technologies like Lenacapavir reach high-risk populations.
Why it matters
Addressing implementation barriers is critical for global health initiatives aiming to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
Access to new long-acting HIV prevention medicines, rather than scientific innovation, is now the main obstacle to ending AIDS by 2030, experts have said.
They said expanding equitable access, strengthening community delivery systems and sustaining investment would be critical to ensuring that new HIV prevention technologies reached populations at greatest risk.
The experts made the remarks during a media briefing at the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Ms Adaobi Lisa Olisa, a community advocate with the Nigeria-based Route to Rise organisation, said long-acting HIV prevention injections, including Lenacapavir, had the potential to transform HIV prevention if implementation challenges were addressed.
"The science is progressing. The real risk now lies in implementation," she said.
Ms Olisa said communities across Africa were increasingly accepting long-acting HIV prevention because it addressed barriers associated with daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), including pill fatigue, stigma and concerns about disclosure.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in