The multiple layers of prevention science research

The "3 Ps" of EmPowerment, Partnership and Protection - Stakeholder Perceptions of Beneficial Outcomes of Engagement in HIV Prevention Trials

Background: Stakeholder engagement is increasingly recognized as a key component of ethical research in leading ethics guidelines. Ethics commentators have also argued that engagement has several beneficial outcomes for the field. Aim: This paper reports on the beneficial outcomes of stakeholder engagement in HIV prevention trials as perceived by stakeholders in the field. Method: We conducted 28 interviews between 2019 and 2021 with interviewees from various stakeholder groups in 12 countries and used thematic analysis to analyze the transcripts. Findings: We found three major themes - namely emPowerment where engagement is perceived to empower stakeholders, Partnerships where engagement is perceived to build equitable relationships and Protections where engagement is perceived to strengthen protections for participants and community stakeholders and to improve science. Conclusions: These findings map closely onto beneficial outcomes envisaged by ethics guidelines, however, the relationship between outcomes seen as beneficial deserves further exploration.

The Promise of the Dual Prevention Pill: A Framework for Development and Introduction

Women of reproductive age need multipurpose prevention technology (MPT) products to address two overlapping health risks: unintended pregnancy and HIV. Currently, condoms are the only available MPT, however male condoms are not within the control of a woman, and the use of female condoms has been limited by low acceptability and cost. Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly effective for HIV prevention, yet uptake and adherence among women have been low to date. Women globally need more options for HIV and pregnancy prevention. Several MPTs for simultaneous HIV and pregnancy prevention are in various stages of development and clinical testing, although most are many years away from market launch. A dual prevention pill (DPP), a daily oral pill combining oral contraceptives and PrEP, both of which are licensed, approved products in many low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), is likely to be the fastest route to getting an MPT product into the hands of women. The DPP is one option that could enhance method choice, particularly for women who are already using oral contraceptives. By leveraging the oral contraceptive market and reaching women currently using condoms or with an unmet need for contraception, the DPP has the potential to increase the uptake of PrEP. The successful rollout of the DPP will require careful consideration of user-, provider-, and product-centered factors during product development and introduction. Early attention to these interrelated factors can help ensure that the DPP has the ideal characteristics for maximum product acceptability, that effective and quality services are designed and implemented, and that users can make informed choices, demand the product, and use it effectively. The proposed framework outlines key considerations for the effective development and introduction of the DPP, which could also facilitate integration models for future MPTs.

Applying the Behavioural and Social Sciences Research (BSSR) Functional Framework to HIV Cure Research

Introduction

The search for an HIV cure involves important behavioural and social processes that complement the domains of biomedicine. However, the field has yet to tap into the full potential of behavioural and social sciences research (BSSR). In this article, we apply Gaist and Stirratt’s BSSR Functional Framework to the field of HIV cure research.

Discussion

The BSSR Functional Framework describes four key research domains: (1) basic BSSR (understanding basic behavioural and social factors), (2) elemental BSSR (advancing behavioural and social interventions), (3) supportive BSSR (strengthening biomedically focused clinical trials), and (4) integrative BSSR (building multi‐disciplinary combination approaches for real‐world implementation). In revisiting and applying the BSSR Functional Framework, we clarify the importance of BSSR in HIV cure research by drawing attention to such things as: how language and communication affect the meaning of “cure” to people living with HIV (PLHIV) and broader communities; how cure affects the identity and social position of PLHIV; counselling and support interventions to address the psychosocial needs and concerns of study participants related to analytical treatment interruptions (ATIs); risk reduction in the course of ATI study participation; motivation, acceptability, and decision‐making processes of potential study participants related to different cure strategies; HIV care providers’ perceptions and attitudes about their patients’ participation in cure research; potential social harms or adverse social events associated with cure research participation; and the scalability of a proven cure strategy in the context of further advances in HIV prevention and treatment. We also discuss the BSSR Functional Framework in the context of ATIs, which involve processes at the confluence of the BSSR domains.

Conclusions

To move HIV cure regimens through the translational research pathway, attention will need to be paid to both biomedical and socio‐behavioural elements. BSSR can contribute an improved understanding of the human and social dimensions related to HIV cure research and the eventual application of HIV cure regimens. The BSSR Functional Framework provides a way to identify advances, gaps and opportunities to craft an integrated, multi‐disciplinary approach at all stages of cure research to ensure the real‐world applicability of any strategy that shows promise.

Research on HIV cure: Mapping the ethics landscape

In an essay, Karine Dubé and coauthors discuss the ethics of preclinical and clinical studies relevant to achieving an HIV cure.

Successes and challenges of HIV prevention in men who have sex with men

Men who have sex with men (MSM) have been substantially affected by HIV epidemics worldwide. Epidemics in MSM are re-emerging in many high-income countries and gaining greater recognition in many low-income and middle-income countries. Better HIV prevention strategies are urgently needed. Our review of HIV prevention strategies for MSM identified several important themes. At the beginning of the epidemic, stand-alone behavioural interventions mostly aimed to reduce unprotected anal intercourse, which, although somewhat efficacious, did not reduce HIV transmission. Biomedical prevention strategies reduce the incidence of HIV infection. Delivery of barrier and biomedical interventions with coordinated behavioural and structural strategies could optimise the effectiveness of prevention. Modelling suggests that, with sufficient coverage, available interventions are sufficient to avert at least a quarter of new HIV infections in MSM in diverse countries. Scale-up of HIV prevention programmes for MSM is difficult because of homophobia and bias, suboptimum access to HIV testing and care, and financial constraints.

Framing the social in biomedical HIV prevention trials: a 20-year retrospective

Biomedical research is critical to identifying effective and safe interventions, such as vaccines, microbicides, male circumcision and antiretrovirals, for prevention. Funding for clinical prevention trials is highly competitive and the benchmarks of success ultimately reduce to quickly enrolling a select group of people at risk, keeping them enrolled, and inducing them to be compliant with trial requirements - all at the lowest cost possible. Juxtaposed with this reality is the fact that HIV is situated with poverty, exploitation, assaults on human dignity, and human rights abuses. The result is a complex web of ethical challenges that are socially constructed along lines of wealth and power. While social science research methods are commonly employed to examine such topics, they have played a marginal role in biomedical HIV prevention research. Why? To answer this question, a core set of persistent interlocking social, behavioural and ethical challenges to biomedical HIV prevention research are described. A critique is offered on how the social has been framed relative to the behavioural, ethical and biomedical components. Examples of how this framing has devalued social knowledge are provided, including the conflation of qualitative research with anecdotal reporting, a bias toward brevity and accuracy over external validity, and difficulties in distinguishing between a moral understanding of social norms and achieving a moral outcome when confronted with ethical challenges in research. Lastly, opportunities are identified for enhancing the success of biomedical HIV prevention research through development of a coherent programme of social science research. Recommendations are offered for reframing the social as a valid domain of scientific inquiry in this highly applied and interdisciplinary context.

Towards a framework for community engagement in global health research

New technologies for global public health are spurring critical evaluations of the role of communities in research and what they receive in exchange for their participation. Community engagement activities resulting from these evaluations are most challenging for novel scientific ventures, particularly those involving controversial strategies and those in which some risks are poorly understood or determined. Remarkably, there is no explicit body of community engagement knowledge to which researchers can turn for guidance about approaches that are most likely to be effective in different contexts, and why. We describe here a framework that provides a starting point for broader discussions of community engagement in global health research, particularly as it relates to the development, evaluation and application of new technologies.

Sexual pleasure, gender power and microbicide acceptability in Zimbabwe and Malawi

Topical vaginal microbicides are being developed to reduce HIV infection in women for whom correct and consistent condom use is impossible or undesirable. Although microbicides have been heralded as a "women-initiated" method that requires no action of the male partner, gender norms for sexual relationships and sexual practices could impede acceptability and use. To facilitate development of microbicides and look ahead to their eventual introduction, it is necessary to understand couples' sexual dynamics, including power and pleasure. This article presents data from a study of microbicide acceptability ancillary to a microbicide clinical trial in Malawi and Zimbabwe. Female trial participants, male partners, health care professionals and community stakeholders were interviewed about norms for sexual decision-making, sexual pleasure, and associated intravaginal practices that ensure this pleasure. Even though acceptability of microbicides was found to be high, sexual intercourse is accompanied by issues of power and gender norms that place women, particularly those in stable union, at a disadvantage for enactment of risk reduction strategies. Although woman-initiated use is an important goal in development of microbicides, the need for men's cooperation or agreement must be addressed in strategies for future product introduction.

Practice brief: adolescents and HIV clinical trials: ethics, culture, and context

One quarter of HIV infections globally occur among young people 15 to 24 years of age, and more than half of all new infections are in people younger than 25 years. Clearly, there is a need to identify and implement effective HIV prevention strategies among at-risk teens. Some of the most effective options for slowing the epidemic are biomedical, and several promising methods are in development, including microbicides, vaccines, and preexposure prophylaxis (PREP, or the daily use of antiretrovirals to prevent the acquisition of HIV). There is widespread reluctance to enroll minors in such biomedical prevention trials because of concerns about vulnerability related to physical maturity, experiential maturity, and diminished autonomy as well as legal and social challenges that vary across and within nations. However, excluding minors from trials misses an important opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness, acceptability, and safety of innovative interventions under the best conditions for identifying and resolving potential problems. The challenges of including minors in HIV prevention trials are highlighted through the example of one rural South African community that has been particularly devastated by the HIV epidemic.