HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) \u2014 Young women, mothers holding babies and some men lined up in a dusty field on the outskirts of Zimbabwe\u2019s capital, Harare. They came for injections of a new HIV prevention drug launched in the country on Thursday, one that only needs to be administered twice a year.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe<\/a>, where HIV has led to tens of thousands of deaths over the past two decades, is one of the first countries to roll out lenacapavir, a long-acting drug that authorities hope will slow new infections.<\/p>\n With clinical studies demonstrating near-total protection<\/a>, the drug has been described by some health officials as a turning point for high-risk groups. Others warn that turning scientific promise into broad impact will require overcoming funding constraints, infrastructure gaps and the challenge of keeping patients engaged.<\/p>\n At the Zimbabwe launch, Constance Mukoloka stepped out of a mobile clinic, beaming with relief after receiving one of the first doses.<\/p>\n \u201cI am safe, I can work with confidence now,\u201d said the 27-year-old sex worker, describing how daily preventive preexposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, pills often created tension with clients and proved difficult to take consistently \u2014 putting her and others at risk.<\/p>\n Could reshape HIV prevention strategies<\/p>\n Mukoloka is among the first beneficiaries of a donor-supported rollout of lenacapavir across 10 African countries<\/a>. Health officials and advocates say the drug could reshape HIV prevention strategies if governments can navigate barriers of cost and fragile health systems.<\/p>\n Developed by California-based Gilead Sciences, lenacapavir\u2019s introduction in selected high-risk countries is being supported through the United States President\u2019s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR<\/a>, in partnership with the Global Fund.<\/p>\n The injection is offered for free in Zimbabwe to high-risk people such as sex workers, adolescent girls and young women, gay men and pregnant and breastfeeding women.<\/p>\n For Mukoloka, the drug represents more than convenience.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I took tablets, customers would see a container of pills and leave. They would never return due to fear,\u201d she said. \u201cThey couldn\u2019t tell the difference between PrEP and treatment drugs. With the work we do, that stigma costs you money.\u201d<\/p>\n Daily oral PrEP has long been available in Zimbabwe alongside condoms, vaginal rings and shorter-acting injectables. Yet adherence has remained a challenge, particularly for people facing stigma or unpredictable schedules.<\/p>\n \u201cI work in beer halls looking for clients. Sometimes I would get drunk and forget to take my drugs,\u201d Mukoloka said. \u201cSometimes I would work all night and not have time. Some clients refuse protection. They say … ‘Why should I use protection when I have paid?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Extended duration an advantage<\/p>\n Health authorities see lenacapavir\u2019s discreetness and extended duration as a critical advantage for key populations such as sex workers and therefore a boost in fighting the spread of HIV.<\/p>\n \u201cPrevention must fit into real life. If a health solution is too complicated, too demanding, or too visible, people simply won\u2019t use it,\u201d Douglas Mombeshora, Zimbabwe\u2019s health minister, said at Thursday’s launch. \u201cLenacapavir represents a new way of doing things.\u201d<\/p>\n The drug has been rolled out in other southern African nations like Zambia and Eswatini.<\/p>\n Zimbabwe, Eswatini and Zambia, once global HIV epicenters, have emerged in recent years as among the world\u2019s most successful models in controlling the epidemic, achieving World Health Organization testing, treatment and viral suppression targets.<\/p>\n Yet despite these gains, new infections remain a concern, particularly among adolescent girls and young women.<\/p>\n According to the United Nations children\u2019s agency, HIV prevalence among adolescent girls and young women aged 10-24 is \u201cpersistently\u201d triple that of their male counterparts in sub-Saharan Africa, driven by gender inequality, poverty and uneven access to health services.<\/p>\n In sub-Saharan Africa, women and girls of all ages accounted for 63% of all new HIV infections in 2024, according to UNAIDS. In all other geographical regions, about 73% of new infections in 2024 occurred among men and boys.<\/p>\n In Zimbabwe, authorities say about 46,000 people across 24 sites are expected to benefit in the early phase of the lenacapavir rollout, a fraction of potential demand in a country of roughly 15 million.<\/p>\n High cost of mass rollouts<\/p>\n Details for the next phase are not clear. The government says it hopes the number of beneficiaries will increase as more donor-funded doses arrive. It also hopes to acquire its own doses for a mass rollout but, like many other African governments, lacks enough money.<\/p>\n Health officials, experts and activists warn that practical realities could tamper the drug’s early promise in Africa, a continent of over 1.5 billion people, not least due to the high cost of mass rollouts for governments.<\/p>\n In Kenya, which received its first 21,000 lenacapavir doses this week, the government said the injectable would be offered at a negotiated price of about $54 per person per year, still a heavy cost for many.<\/p>\n Gilead Sciences has said it would sell its drug at no profit<\/a> to low and middle-income countries heavily affected by HIV.<\/p>\n Bellinda Thibela, who works on health justice and access at Health GAP, an international advocacy organization, described the move as \u201ca bit comforting\u201d but hardly enough on its own on a continent where health systems have heavily relied on external funding that is diminishing, particularly after U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s foreign aid cuts.<\/p>\n Challenges will remain in countries that were “80% to 90% dependent on U.S. funding,\u201d Thibela said. \u201cWhat\u2019s the point of having a reduced price if there is no staff and equipment in clinics?\u201d<\/p>\n While many clinicians describe lenacapavir as a significant advance, they stress it must complement, not replace, prevention tools.<\/p>\n \u201cCondoms remain key. They are cheap and they also prevent other sexually transmitted infections,\u201d said Enerst Chikwati, Zimbabwe program director at AIDS Healthcare Foundation.<\/p>\n But for early recipients such as Mukoloka, the drug\u2019s impact already feels profound.<\/p>\n \u201cI am elated. I can go for a whole six months feeling safe,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Associated Press writer Evelyne Musambi contributed to this report from Nairobi, Kenya.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n For more on Africa and development: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/africa-pulse<\/a><\/p>\n The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n Farai Mutsaka, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) \u2014 Young women, mothers holding babies and some men lined up in a dusty field…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[152965,102027,152964,152963,163,12815,29153,85,46,152966,24434,39873],"class_list":["post-303911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-adolescent-girls","tag-african-countries","tag-constance-mukoloka","tag-harare","tag-health","tag-hiv","tag-hiv-prevention","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-mukoloka","tag-young-women","tag-zimbabwe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}