Latest news with #UNAids
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Breakthrough in search for HIV cure leaves researchers ‘overwhelmed'
A cure for HIV could be a step closer after researchers found a new way to force the virus out of hiding inside human cells. The virus's ability to conceal itself inside certain white blood cells has been one of the main challenges for scientists looking for a cure. It means there is a reservoir of the HIV in the body, capable of reactivation, that neither the immune system nor drugs can tackle. Now researchers from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne, have demonstrated a way to make the virus visible, paving the way to fully clear it from the body. It is based on mRNA technology, which came to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic when it was used in vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech. In a paper published in Nature Communications, the researchers have shown for the first time that mRNA can be delivered into the cells where HIV is hiding, by encasing it in a tiny, specially formulated fat bubble. The mRNA then instructs the cells to reveal the virus. Globally, there are almost 40 million people living with HIV, who must take medication for the rest of their lives in order to suppress the virus and ensure they do not develop symptoms or transmit it. For many it remains deadly, with UNAids figures suggesting one person died of HIV every minute in 2023. It was 'previously thought impossible' to deliver mRNA to the type of white blood cell that is home to HIV, said Dr Paula Cevaal, research fellow at the Doherty Institute and co-first author of the study, because those cells did not take up the fat bubbles, or lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), used to carry it. The team have developed a new type of LNP that those cells will accept, known as LNP X. She said: 'Our hope is that this new nanoparticle design could be a new pathway to an HIV cure.' When a colleague first presented test results at the lab's weekly meeting, Cevaal said, they seemed too good to be true. 'We sent her back into the lab to repeat it, and she came back the next week with results that were equally good. So we had to believe it. And of course, since then, we've repeated it many, many, many more times. 'We were overwhelmed by how [much of a] night and day difference it was – from not working before, and then all of a sudden it was working. And all of us were just sitting gasping like, 'wow'.' Further research will be needed to determine whether revealing the virus is enough to allow the body's immune system to deal with it, or whether the technology will need to be combined with other therapies to eliminate HIV from the body. The study is laboratory based and was carried out in cells donated by HIV patients. The path to using the technology as part of a cure for patients is long, and would require successful tests in animals followed by safety trials in humans, likely to take years, before efficacy trials could even begin. 'In the field of biomedicine, many things eventually don't make it into the clinic – that is the unfortunate truth; I don't want to paint a prettier picture than what is the reality,' stressed Cevaal. 'But in terms of specifically the field of HIV cure, we have never seen anything close to as good as what we are seeing, in terms of how well we are able to reveal this virus. 'So from that point of view, we're very hopeful that we are also able to see this type of response in an animal, and that we could eventually do this in humans.' Dr Michael Roche of the University of Melbourne and co-senior author of the research, said the discovery could have broader implications beyond HIV, with the relevant white blood cells also involved in other diseases including cancers. Dr Jonathan Stoye, a retrovirologist and emeritus scientist at the Francis Crick Institute, who was not involved in the study, said the approach taken by the Melbourne team appeared be a major advance on existing strategies to force the virus out of hiding, but further studies would be needed to determine how best to kill it after that. He added: 'Ultimately, one big unknown remains. Do you need to eliminate the entire reservoir for success or just the major part? If just 10% of the latent reservoir survives will that be sufficient to seed new infection? Only time will tell. 'However, that does not detract from the significance of the current study, which represents a major potential advance in delivery of mRNA for therapeutic purposes to blood cells.' Prof Tomáš Hanke of the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, disputed the idea that getting RNA into white blood cells had been a significant challenge. He said the hope that all cells in the body where HIV was hiding could be reached in this way was 'merely a dream'.
The Guardian
30-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Three ways to help the developing world survive the end of aid
Countries across the world are cutting aid budgets, abandoning the decades-old consensus that supporting health and development is both a moral duty and a strategic interest. But the end of aid cannot mean the end of global solidarity – because our global economy is stacked against low- and middle-income countries to such an extent that they simply cannot afford to respond to global crises alone. Developing countries are drowning in debt, facing interest rates up to 12 times higher than wealthy countries. When interest rates shot up after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the global south was worst hit. Low- and middle-income countries now pay $4 (£3) to the richest in the global north for every $1 they receive in aid. Thirty-four of Africa's 54 countries spend more on debt than on healthcare. Faced with such an overwhelming fiscal burden, governments would normally turn to taxes, asking the wealthy and corporations to pay their fair share. But while African countries spend $144bn on health every year, they lose $88.6bn to illicit financial flows – two-thirds of it to corporate practices such as aggressive tax planning. And where is it going? Of all global tax losses, 69% is channelled through rich countries and their dependencies. I lead the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAids). We are working with developing countries to move towards full ownership of their HIV responses. But this will take time, as they lack the fiscal space needed. According to UNAids, the US government paid for 82% of the HIV response in Zambia and 70% in my home country, Uganda. This money saved countless lives but left countries vulnerable to external political changes such as those we are seeing today. In January, key components of the US President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) were paused for review. UNAids has calculated that if Pepfar isn't fully reinstated, by 2029 there will be an additional 4 million Aids-related deaths and 6 million adult new infections. This would reverse years of hard-won progress in the global HIV response and threaten global health security – a catastrophic outcome. Global problems will always require global solutions. But solidarity between nations does not necessarily need to come in the form of aid. By upending the inequalities of the global economy, we can give lower-income governments the means to invest in their own people. First, governments must relieve the chokehold of sovereign debt. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the G20 established the common framework, a mechanism to help developing countries struggling with debt. Despite the urgency, it took several years of negotiations for only three countries (Chad, Zambia and Ghana) to qualify for partial debt relief. Much stronger action is needed to bring public and private creditors to the negotiating table on equal terms. More than 30 countries are either in debt distress or at high risk of it – and they need urgent relief. Second, the richest need to pay their fair share. The wealth of billionaires soared by $2tn in 2024, but they paid an effective tax rate of just 0.3%. Last year, the G20 made some progress towards global minimum wealth taxes, with leaders for the first time agreeing to 'engage cooperatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed'. It was a small, but significant, step. Yet when the UN moved towards negotiating a framework convention on international tax cooperation in 2024, despite most member states voting in favour, eight of the wealthiest voted against. Third, governments need to treat lifesaving medicines not as commodities, but as global public goods. This has been one of the great successes of the HIV response – whether someone lives in Ukraine or Uganda, they can access the same high-quality, low-cost medicines. But that did not happen overnight. In the early years of the Aids pandemic, 12 million people died in Africa while pharmaceutical companies refused to make patented HIV medicines available or affordable for developing countries. Then, a global movement of activists and international partners put pressure on pharmaceutical companies to lower prices and share their life-saving technologies. Countries of the global south cooperated, and generic manufacturers slashed the annual cost of HIV treatments from $10,000 per person per year to as low as $50 today. Yet patents on life-saving medicines remain a fundamental barrier. In the pandemic, I co-founded the People's Vaccine Alliance, which fought to suspend intellectual property rules on Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatments – to enable low- and middle-income countries to produce pandemic-ending tools for themselves. Today, the renamed People's Medicines Alliance is part of a movement fighting to ensure that all low- and middle-income countries can access the latest breakthrough in HIV medicines – long-acting drugs that can prevent transmission with injections just twice a year. Lenacapavir, owned by the US pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences and tested in low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, costs about $40,000 per patient per year in the US. But research shows that, if produced at the right scale, a generic version could cost just $40. Rolling out such innovative long-acting tools globally could help to halt the majority of new HIV infections and put the world on track to end Aids. To help shift the balance from profits to public good, the economist Joseph Stiglitz proposes a sustainable alternative: replacing patents with prizes. Instead of granting monopolies to reap profits, governments could pool resources to award large sums of money to innovators who open-source their technology and ensure that scientific breakthroughs are shared around the world. It is a bold vision. In our fractured world, we can only cement global solidarity if everyone benefits. When president John F Kennedy established USAID in 1961, he viewed it as the US's 'great opportunity' to secure peace and prosperity in its relationships with the global south. And for any nation seeking to influence a globalised world, it makes financial sense, as preventing conflict is 100 times cheaper than responding to it. Yet today, governments are pulling back from a system that, for all its flaws, has delivered peace and security for many. Millions of people still rely on aid to stay alive, and dozens of governments rely on it to maintain essential services. Developing countries cannot absorb the impact of lost aid overnight. In a world of plenty, we should not need to choose between health, prosperity and security. If governments cooperate to build a fairer world economy – by cracking down on tax abuse, relieving the crushing burden of debt and treating lifesaving innovations as global public goods – we can pull global solidarity back from the brink and save lives. Winnie Byanyima is executive director of UNAids, a UN undersecretary general and co-chair of the People's Medicines Alliance
Saudi Gazette
25-03-2025
- Health
- Saudi Gazette
US cuts to HIV aid will cost millions of lives — UNAids chief
GENEVA — US funding cuts will lead to an additional 2,000 new HIV infections each day and over six million further deaths over the next four years, the UNAids chief has warned. It would mark a stark reversal in the global fight against HIV, which has seen the number of deaths from the disease decrease from more than two million in 2004 to 600,000 in 2023, the most recent year for which figures are available. UNAids Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said the US government's decision to pause foreign aid — which included funding for HIV programs — was already having devastating consequences. She called on the US to reverse the cuts immediately, warning women and girls were being hit particularly hard. US President Donald Trump announced the pause on foreign aid, for an initial 90 days, on his first day in office in January as part of a review into government spending. The majority of the US Agency for International Development's (USAID) programs have since been terminated. Many US-financed HIV treatment and prevention programs received stop work orders, leading to the closure of mother and baby clinics in Africa, and severe shortages of life saving anti-retroviral (ARV) medicines. Ms Byanyima said she feared a return to the 1990s, when HIV medication was scarcely available in poorer countries, and infections and deaths soared. The US has for years been the single biggest funder of HIV treatment and prevention, and Ms Byanima thanked Washington for its generosity and humanity. She added it was "reasonable" for the US "to want to reduce its funding — over time", but said the "sudden withdrawal of lifesaving support [was] having a devastating impact". There has been no sign that Washington is listening to appeals to change course. Traditional aid donors in Europe also plan funding cuts, and UNAids — the joint UN agency which combats HIV — has had no indication that other countries might step in to fill the gap left by the US. Speaking in Geneva on Monday, Ms Byanyima described the case of Juliana, a young woman in Kenya living with HIV. She worked for a US-funded program that supported new mothers to access treatment to ensure their babies did not develop the disease. With the program suspended, Ms Byanyima said Juliana was not only out of work but, because she was still breastfeeding her youngest child, she also feared losing the treatment she needed. Previously, the World Health Organization (WHO) said eight countries — Nigeria, Kenya, Lesotho, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Mali, Haiti and Ukraine — could soon run out of HIV drugs after the US funding pause. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that disruption to HIV programs "could undo 20 years of progress". In February, South Africa's leading Aids lobby group, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), warned the country could see a return to when HIV patients struggled to access necessary services for their treatment. "We can't afford to die, we can't afford to go back to those years where we were suffering with access to services, especially for people living with HIV treatment," said TAC chair Sibongile Tshabalala. Ms Byanyima also proposed a deal to the Trump administration, offering an opportunity to market a new US-developed ARV to millions of people. Lenacapavir, made by US company Gilead, is given by injection every six months, with UNAids believing 10 million people could benefit from it. The profits and jobs resulting from such a deal would be hugely beneficial to the US, Ms Byanyima added. UNAids is one of a number of UN agencies facing funding cuts. The UN Refugee Agency has suggested it may have to lose 6,000 jobs, while Unicef has warned that progress to reduce child mortality is threatened, and the World Food Programme has had to cut rations in famine threatened regions. — BBC
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
US cuts to HIV aid will cost millions of lives
US funding cuts will lead to an additional 2,000 new HIV infections each day and over six million further deaths over the next four years, the UNAids chief has warned. It would mark a stark reversal in the global fight against HIV, which has seen the number of deaths from the disease decrease from more than two million in 2004 to 600,000 in 2023, the most recent year for which figures are available. UNAids Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said the US government's decision to pause foreign aid - which included funding for HIV programmes - was already having devastating consequences. She called on the US to reverse the cuts immediately, warning women and girls were being hit particularly hard. US President Donald Trump announced the pause on foreign aid, for an initial 90 days, on his first day in office in January as part of a review into government spending. The majority of the US Agency for International Development's (USAID) programmes have since been terminated. Many US-financed HIV treatment and prevention programmes received stop work orders, leading to the closure of mother and baby clinics in Africa, and severe shortages of life saving anti-retroviral (ARV) medicines. Ms Byanyima said she feared a return to the 1990s, when HIV medication was scarcely available in poorer countries, and infections and deaths soared. The US has for years been the single biggest funder of HIV treatment and prevention, and Ms Byanima thanked Washington for its generosity and humanity. She added it was "reasonable" for the US "to want to reduce its funding - over time", but said the "sudden withdrawal of lifesaving support [was] having a devastating impact". There has been no sign that Washington is listening to appeals to change course. Traditional aid donors in Europe also plan funding cuts, and UNAids - the joint UN agency which combats HIV - has had no indication that other countries might step in to fill the gap left by the US. What is USAID and why is Trump poised to 'close it down'? Speaking in Geneva on Monday, Ms Byanyima described the case of Juliana, a young woman in Kenya living with HIV. She worked for a US-funded programme that supported new mothers to access treatment to ensure their babies did not develop the disease. With the programme suspended, Ms Byanyima said Juliana was not only out of work but, because she was still breastfeeding her youngest child, she also feared losing the treatment she needed. Previously, the World Health Organization (WHO) said eight countries - Nigeria, Kenya, Lesotho, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Mali, Haiti and Ukraine - could soon run out of HIV drugs after the US funding pause. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that disruption to HIV programmes "could undo 20 years of progress". In February, South Africa's leading Aids lobby group, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), warned the country could see a return to when HIV patients struggled to access necessary services for their treatment. "We can't afford to die, we can't afford to go back to those years where we were suffering with access to services, especially for people living with HIV treatment," said TAC chair Sibongile Tshabalala. Ms Byanyima also proposed a deal to the Trump administration, offering an opportunity to market a new US-developed ARV to millions of people. Lenacapavir, made by US company Gilead, is given by injection every six months, with UNAids believing 10 million people could benefit from it. The profits and jobs resulting from such a deal would be hugely beneficial to the US, Ms Byanyima added. UNAids is one of a number of UN agencies facing funding cuts. The UN Refugee Agency has suggested it may have to lose 6,000 jobs, while Unicef has warned that progress to reduce child mortality is threatened, and the World Food Programme has had to cut rations in famine threatened regions. US cuts send South Africa's HIV treatment 'off a cliff' Nigeria and Kenya among nations running out of HIV drugs - WHO
BBC News
24-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
US cuts to HIV aid will cost millions of lives
US funding cuts will lead to an additional 2,000 new HIV infections each day and over six million further deaths over the next four years, the UNAids chief has would mark a stark reversal in the global fight against HIV, which has seen the number of deaths from the disease decrease from more than two million in 2004 to 600,000 in 2023, the most recent year for which figures are Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said the US government's decision to pause foreign aid - which included funding for HIV programmes - was already having devastating called on the US to reverse the cuts immediately, warning women and girls were being hit particularly hard. US President Donald Trump announced the pause on foreign aid, for an initial 90 days, on his first day in office in January as part of a review into government spending. The majority of the US Agency for International Development's (USAID) programmes have since been US-financed HIV treatment and prevention programmes received stop work orders, leading to the closure of mother and baby clinics in Africa, and severe shortages of life saving anti-retroviral (ARV) Byanyima said she feared a return to the 1990s, when HIV medication was scarcely available in poorer countries, and infections and deaths US has for years been the single biggest funder of HIV treatment and prevention, and Ms Byanima thanked Washington for its generosity and added it was "reasonable" for the US "to want to reduce its funding - over time", but said the "sudden withdrawal of lifesaving support [was] having a devastating impact".There has been no sign that Washington is listening to appeals to change aid donors in Europe also plan funding cuts, and UNAids - the joint UN agency which combats HIV - has had no indication that other countries might step in to fill the gap left by the US. Speaking in Geneva on Monday, Ms Byanyima described the case of Juliana, a young woman in Kenya living with HIV. She worked for a US-funded programme that supported new mothers to access treatment to ensure their babies did not develop the the programme suspended, Ms Byanyima said Juliana was not only out of work but, because she was still breastfeeding her youngest child, she also feared losing the treatment she the World Health Organization (WHO) said eight countries - Nigeria, Kenya, Lesotho, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Mali, Haiti and Ukraine - could soon run out of HIV drugs after the US funding chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that disruption to HIV programmes "could undo 20 years of progress".In February, South Africa's leading Aids lobby group, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), warned the country could see a return to when HIV patients struggled to access necessary services for their treatment."We can't afford to die, we can't afford to go back to those years where we were suffering with access to services, especially for people living with HIV treatment," said TAC chair Sibongile Tshabalala. Ms Byanyima also proposed a deal to the Trump administration, offering an opportunity to market a new US-developed ARV to millions of made by US company Gilead, is given by injection every six months, with UNAids believing 10 million people could benefit from profits and jobs resulting from such a deal would be hugely beneficial to the US, Ms Byanyima is one of a number of UN agencies facing funding UN Refugee Agency has suggested it may have to lose 6,000 jobs, while Unicef has warned that progress to reduce child mortality is threatened, and the World Food Programme has had to cut rations in famine threatened regions.
