When AVAC was founded on World AIDS Day in 1995 as the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, it had a single focus: an AIDS vaccine.
“But we began to recognize it was about advocacy and engagement across the research to roll out continuum,” Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC, told Devex. “We expanded our focus from the science of product development to include the science and art of product and intervention delivery.”
The changes in AVAC reflect broader shifts in the fight on HIV/AIDS, from the expansion of the prevention research landscape beyond vaccines, to the recognition that interventions in and of themselves do not end epidemics. This World AIDS Day, Devex spoke with Warren during what he said is a precarious time for the epidemic. After working for several decades on HIV/AIDS, he said there is an opportunity to bend the curve by delivering at scale the existing tools for treatment and prevention while also developing additional tools for the future.