On November 16, 2022,  TAG, INPUD and AfroCAB presented the webinar, “Community Mobilization to Ensure Health Systems’ Readiness for Long-Acting Therapies.” The webinar built capacity on long-acting therapies, identified potential barriers to access, and discussed what is needed to prepare health systems to best absorb these technologies.

The approval and rollout of long-acting HIV therapies like cabotegravir/rilpivirine (Cabenuva) for treatment, and Cabotegravir long-acting (CAB-LA) for PrEP have sparked broader interest in long-acting therapies. ViiV’s recent announcement of a voluntary license on CAB-LA, and Unitaid’s commitment to integrate CAB-LA into national sexual health programs in South Africa and Brazil both signal that we could soon be heading for rapid global scale-up and rollout of these innovative new formulations.

The pipeline of long-acting therapies is promising but reaching their full potential as tools to accelerate global disease elimination goals will require transformation not only in health systems, but also in the legal and policy environment that limit and deny access to these new technologies, particularly in settings where key populations are stigmatized and criminalized.”