Rethinking prevention

The funding crisis reshaping global health has hit HIV prevention particularly hard. At the same time, science is handing us some of the most powerful HIV prevention tools we have ever had – long-acting injectables like lenacapavir and cabotegravir, and a monthly oral pill on the horizon.

But science alone does not deliver prevention. That takes systems, policy, funding and a trained healthcare workforce. It takes communities leading in planning, implementation and holding the HIV response to account.

This episode of HIV unmuted is a curtain raiser for AIDS 2026, the 26th International AIDS Conference, taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and virtually. The theme of the conference, Rethink. Rebuild. Rise., is also the spirit of this episode. We look at what rethinking prevention means in people's lives, what it will take to rebuild the systems and political will to deliver innovation at scale, and how the global HIV response can rise to this moment.

Meet our guests:

Axel Bautista, Community Mobilization Coordinator at MPACT Global Action for Gay Men’s Health and Rights, shares what rethinking prevention really means on the ground, in communities and in people’s lives.

Nomathemba Chandiwana, Chief Scientific Officer at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation in Cape Town and a clinician-scientist at the forefront of HIV prevention, unpacks the systems and science needed to rebuild prevention and make innovation accessible to all.

Beatriz Grinsztejn, President of the International AIDS Society and infectious disease physician-researcher at Fiocruz in Rio de Janeiro, asks how the global HIV response can rise at AIDS 2026.

Meet our host:

Ibanomonde Ngema is a South African HIV advocate for young people living with and affected by HIV. She has spoken at major global platforms, including IAS conferences and the United Nations General Assembly. She serves as South Africa’s Her Voice Fund Ambassador and UNFPA’s Regional Youth Advocate for East and Southern Africa and has authored a paper in The Lancet.

This episode of HIV unmuted features an intimate conversation with Ambassador-at-Large Dr John N Nkengasong, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Senior Bureau Official for Global Health Security and Diplomacy (GHSD). Our host,
Juan Michael Porter II, takes listeners through John N Nkengasong’s remarkable journey from his early days as a virologist to his current role leading the State Department’s Bureau of GHSD, which oversees the global implementation of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

John N Nkengasong offers profound insights into the ongoing global HIV response, stressing the importance of community leadership in sustaining the progress made over the years. He addresses the challenges of maintaining this momentum in the face of changing global health priorities and funding landscapes. Despite significant advancements in treatment and prevention, John N Nkengasong underscores that ending the HIV pandemic will require addressing persistent inequalities and engaging communities around the world.

John N Nkengasong also highlights the potential of lenacapavir for HIV prevention, which, as of December 2024, is part of a coordinated effort by PEPFAR, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation and the Gates Foundation to expand access to innovative treatments. Learn more about this initiative here.

Meet our guest:

John N Nkengasong is an Ambassador-at-Large and serves as the U.S. Department of State’s U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Senior Bureau Official for Global Health Security and Diplomacy (GHSD). He oversees the Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy, which serves as the department’s coordinating body for work on strengthening global health security to prevent, detect and respond to infectious diseases, including HIV and AIDS. The department also elevates and integrates global health security as a core component of U.S. national security and foreign policy. GHSD is home to the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which the Ambassador also oversees. PEPFAR is the largest commitment by any nation to address a single disease in history and has prevented millions of HIV acquisitions, saved more than 25 million lives, and changed the course of the HIV pandemic.

Meet our host:

Juan Michael Porter II is a health journalist, HIV advocate, culture critic, educator and the host of HIV unmuted, the IAS podcast. He is the Senior Editor of TheBody.com and TheBodyPro – and the first person openly living with HIV to hold the position. Juan Michael's reporting combines data dives, personal narratives and policy analyses to address the real-world consequences of ever-shifting legislation on people's health outcomes. He has written for the Public Broadcasting Service, SF Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer, Christian Science Monitor, NY Observer, TDF Stages, Playbill, American Theatre, Time Out NY, Queerty, Anti-Racism Daily, Positively Aware, Documentary Magazine, SYFY Wire, Scholastic and Dance Magazine.

In this special World AIDS Day episode of HIV unmuted, the IAS podcast, poet, advocate and researcher Bakita Kasadha joins host Juan Michael Porter II in a conversation that challenges preconceived notions and redefines how we discuss and address HIV stigma. Produced in collaboration with the IAS Heart of Stigma programme of IAS – the International AIDS Society – this episode dives into the transformative power of language, art and science in reshaping the global HIV narrative.

Bakita shares her unique journey from poetry to advocacy and from being skeptical about research to becoming a groundbreaking researcher herself.

Through candid dialogue, the episode explores the nuances of internalized stigma, the limitations of rigid language norms, and the necessity of inclusive and participatory approaches in HIV discourse. Bakita and Juan Michael discuss the role of grace, nuance, and allyship in dismantling stigma and how the arts can amplify voices and stories that have long been marginalized.

This episode will leave you inspired to rethink stigma, reclaim narratives, and prioritize people in every aspect of the conversation. To find out how you can get involved this World AIDS Day (1 December), visit our World AIDS Day page.

Meet our guest:

Bakita Kasadha

Bakita Kasadha is a multi-award-winning health researcher at the University of Oxford, and poet and activist. In 2024, she was awarded the IAS biennial Prudence Mabele Prize. She was the main researcher on the award-winning HIV and infant-feeding NOURISH-UK study and co-edited the collection, HIV and Women’s Health: Where Are We Now? Her poetry, commissioned by organizations like the Elton John AIDS Foundation, has inspired initiatives such as a multimillion-pound Fast-Track Cities (London) fund to prevent HIV. She has written for TheBodyPro, NAM aidsmap, Black Ballad, Glamour and the British Journal of Healthcare Management. Her work focuses on addressing health inequities through research and the arts.

Meet our host:

Juan Michael Porter II

Juan Michael Porter II is a health journalist, HIV advocate, culture critic, educator and the host of HIV unmuted, the IAS podcast. He is the Senior Editor of TheBody.com and TheBodyPro – and the first person openly living with HIV to hold the position. Juan Michael’s reporting combines data dives, personal narratives and policy analyses to address the real-world consequences of ever-shifting legislation on people’s health outcomes. He has written for the Public Broadcasting Service, SF Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer, Christian Science Monitor, NY Observer, TDF Stages, Playbill, American Theatre, Time Out NY, Queerty, Anti-Racism Daily, Positively Aware, Documentary Magazine, SYFY Wire, Scholastic and Dance Magazine.