Landmark Trail in South Africa 🇿🇦 finds twice yearly injectable prevention therapy.

Landmark Trail in South Africa 🇿🇦  finds twice yearly injectable HIV prevention therapy.

This discusses the importance of making PrEP (Pre-Exposure prophylaxis) options, including lenacapavir, available and accessible for HIV prevention.

We emphasize that:

1. PrEP has been proven safe and effective, including among women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, and HIV negative.

2. There is an urgent need to design and implement youth led HIV prevention programs and prepare health systems to deliver PrEP options.

3. Lessons learned from previous rollouts in Kenya 🇰🇪 of oral PrEP, dapivirine vaginal ring, and injectable cabotegravir can inform the introduction of lenacapavir.  

4. The global health community and South African government must act with speed, scale, and urgency to make lenacapavir PrEP available at scale and with equity to drive down new HIV infections to end HIV by 2030 under a youth led newly launched campaign called Youth HIV Free Generation 2030 #LenacapavirNow

We call for collaboration among civil society partners, civil society forums, stakeholders, governments, international donors, and normative agencies to ensure timely and widespread rollout and access to lenacapavir and other PrEP options in RSA.

HIV remains a substantial threat in South Africa, with the youth & key population being especially vulnerable therefore the are thousands of reasons why young people should uptake the advocacy strategies upon themselves to ensure that we indeed contribute to the HIV Free Generation 2030 as per the national strategic plan "Let Communities Lead". 

Gcina Sawuka    Contact the author of the petition