I love seeing this. Can't understate how unusual these moments are: Research conferences are tightly planned; audience is academic (ie, trained to be reserved); and the experience is NOT made for media. In my 25 years in HIV, I've seen maybe a handful of these? It always signals a watershed moment.

UPDATE (5/18): The 4th Cir. will rehear this case en banc. Case is scheduled for oral argument at the next available court session. Order --> www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/242...

Today, MSF is going public with something we've been fighting behind closed doors for months: Gilead will not sell us their new HIV drug, lenacapavir. The sticking point isn't even price, they just refuse to sell. Open letter linked + explainer 🧵1/ www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/gilea...

This is a stopgap measure in effect through June 30 as lawmakers work toward a new state budget for the 2026–27 fiscal year. positivelyaware.com/florida-adap-temporary-funding

Florida, the same state that tried recently to cut health coverage for 1000s of people with HIV, has now charged an HIV+ woman w/ a felony for not disclosing her status to her sexual partners. Florida's HIV criminalization laws don't require actual transmission nor intent to transmit the virus.

Still needs to pass the Florida House. The amendment redirects money from a state trust fund to ADAP thru June 30, would maintain eligibility at 400% of the FPL, and direct FL to directly distribute medications to enrollees. #IDsky #AIDS #HIV #RyanWhite #publichealth #LGBTQ

ICYMI: Watch PrEP4All, Positively Aware and the PrEP Users’ Union’s first policy update on increasing PrEP access in 2026, including the PrEP Assistance Program Act: https://bit.ly/4slqg8C

Tens of thousands of Americans are losing access to treatment for H.I.V. as nearly 20 states impose restrictions on assistance programs and several others weigh such changes. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/h...

To change your plan, call the Marketplace Call Center at 800-318-2596 (TTY: 855-889-4325). Deadline to change plans is April 30. Details here: positivelyaware.com/special-enrollment-period

A wonderful, empowering interview with an incredible human!

Whether we show up using our personal health stewardship or community organizing, through word-of-mouth networks or formal advocacy, we are asserting our right to health and dignity in all the ways that matter, writes HIV specialist Dr. Stella Safo. positivelyaware.com/why-advocacy-matters

like this isn't 2012, there are no national queer rights orgs who are flush with cash. Everyone I speak with is dramatically cutting their budgets. And red state queer orgs are always fighting uphill on a shoestring budget. My challenge to you today is to google a red state queer org and donate.

News from CROI 2026: PrEP uptake was already low – and then came the cuts #CROI2026

Final results from #PREVENIR at #CROI2026 show continued #HIV protection from 2:1:1 #PrEP dosing in gay and bisexual men in #Paris: i-base.info/htb/53282 The study also highlights the need for better #PrEPaccess in #France for those born abroad. #HIVsky #HIVprevention #HIVresearch #SexualHealth

Lenacapavir for PrEP was the big "star" of #CROI2026 after showing almost 100% effectiveness in preventing HIV in 2 large RCTs. Unfortunately at a pricing point of 28000$ a year it remains inaccessible to most. A drug is only as great as the number of people who can access and benefit from it.

1. Major news on trans youth care. The American Psychological Association has reaffirmed its full support for its 2024 guidelines supporting trans youth car.e It provided documentation showing Jesse Singal mischaracterized their position in the NYT. Subscribe to support our journalism.

The federal government is trying to deregulate AI. In the last three months, both NYC & NYS have passed AI oversight laws. For these to be successful, communities need to lead and have decision-making power. 🔈Read my new op-ed on participatory AI governance! www.healthaffairs.org/content/fore...

A long-term survivor and advocate reflects on his 6 years as vice chair of the Broward County HIV Health Services Planning Council and cultivating a new generation of community leaders. Read Von Biggs’ First Person commentary here. positivelyaware.com/passing-the-torch

As #CROI2026 opens in Denver, this New York Times piece lands squarely on the conference’s central theme: the real-world consequences of US decisions on #HIV funding & #globalhealth leadership & the human cost when support is withdrawn & science is attacked. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/o... #IDSky

"...The pendulum that has been swinging against us...will, if we fight for it, eventually swing back. You are a community that gives us miracles. With empathy as your driving force, you save lives, your history will pull the pendulum back." @prep4allnow.bsky.social's Peter Staley #CROI2026 #IDSky

The end of the PEPFAR-funded DREAMS program cut off HIV-prevention support for millions of girls across sub-Saharan Africa. In Kenya, health experts warn the consequences are already visible.

#HIV #NIAID

This week marks 1 yr since AVAC sued the US government over the sweeping #ForeignAid freeze that halted #HIV & #GlobalHealth programs overnight. Watch our Executive Director, Mitchell Warren, explain what happened, what was at stake, and why this case still matters, www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXfM...

Lots of HIV programs included in this list

@posaware.bsky.social, @prep4allnow.bsky.social and thePrEP Users’ Union invite you to an update on challenges to PrEP access & research; we’ll also discuss policy issues and proposed legislation impacting PrEP in our communities. Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 2p. ET. Register: bit.ly/preppolicyupdate

I'm ridiculously honored that Dr. Blackstock and the amazing humans at PIBA chose to use TheBody as a platform to help announce this critical new campaign. If the HIV-related work you do at all intersects with Black folks, this is worth your time to read -- and to complete the survey!

This starts in a couple of hours!

An important note, since I quote-posted this prior to reading the full article (shame on me!): The 'halt' may well be temporary as state officials scramble to apply at least a veneer of legality to what they're trying to do. But it does at least buy the people impacted, and HIV orgs, some time

Well, how about that

This is true for many small pubs as much as it is for individual freelancers or self-publishing journalists -- and it's one of the many reasons it's so disappointing, infuriating, etc., to see large media orgs caving to farcical legal threats. They're the ones best equipped to fight! And yet.

This is looking to be an important grassroots resource -- worth tuning in!

"No public hearing was held, no public documentation was released, and no transition plan was provided. Despite requests dating back to 2024, DOH still refuses to show how it calculated the $120 million shortfall it claims."

This is on top of a considerable peeling back of HIV-related funding cuts that had been pushed by the Trump admin and stamped by the House. Important, tactile progress against the tide

6. Now, with this release, the final HHS and Education bills contain no anti-transgender provisions: no ban on hospitals providing gender-affirming care to transgender youth, no threats to strip funding from schools that support transgender students or allow them to use the bathroom.

Good news, for once, in a long fight to preserve #HIVfunding! The FY2026 Conference bill - aka the final negotiated bill that passed both chambers and was signed into law - preserves the majority of HIV prevention & treatment funding, ignoring the cuts that the President and the House proposed.

Florida is making its ADAP eligibility much stricter, which will make many people scramble for other options. That this appears to be happening with no warning is cruel, tho it’s ostensibly related to the loss of ACA credits

Take it from a long-time highly regarded HIV doc who had a front-line seat as antiretroviral treatment evolved.

For readers who are about to lose care, I have been told that the Trans Youth Emergency Project is helping the families of trans youth contingency plan to access that care. www.transyouthemergencyproject.org

They will not succeed — both because they are wrong and because, ultimately, such people always fail. The only question is how many people will be harmed in the interim and what we, as people who care, will do to support and protect those being targeted. (This, to be clear, is not a new question.)

This is when every single hospital in the country needs to say no. Shut down all the hospitals and see what happens.

Jeanne Marrazzo, the former head of the U.S. NIAID, has sued the federal government, which fired her on 26 September. Her suit claims it did so in retaliation for a whistleblower complaint she filed against the Trump administration. https://scim.ag/48HUI5X

RFK Jr, the current Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, is fully immersed in the murderous falsehoods of AIDS denialism: RFK Jr, June 2023: "There are much better candidates than HIV for what causes AIDS." nymag.com/intelligence...

#FDA has approved a new 1st-in-class oral antibiotic for the treatment of #gonorrhea, which has been making its way through the armamentarium of available antibiotics. Nuzolvence was brought to market through a private-public partnership involving @gardp.bsky.social. www.statnews.com/2025/12/12/f...

This is cool.

Oh for crap's sake www.courthousenews.com/military-ask...

This is a useful breakdown! And a compelling argument -- though I'm not sure I'm convinced that this can hold true for gender/sex-specific data. We know trans erasure is happening -- but do we know if every research team is handling that the same way? "Sex assigned at birth" isn't always known.

1. In a Sunday Night surprise, the trans healthcare coverage ban has been removed from the military NDAA. Congressional leaders released the negotiated bill this evening, and though the House AND Senate contained the provision, it is not in the final bill! Subscribe to support our journalism.

Commemorating #WorldAIDSday is an act of defiance against ideology driven policies that will end our progress to end the epidemic.

there’s a scene in the new documentary where Elizabeth Taylor is talking about the stigma of AIDS and how she got involved in the movement and it’s fucking everything