00:00Millions could die in the next five years because of the Trump administration's
00:03custody humanitarian aid. It's absolutely obscene. Dangerous, bad, very costly. I
00:09mean virtually every investment made is a conjo. The complex ecosystem that
00:15sustains HIV services was shaken to its core. Now we have a tool that really
00:21could end HIV as a public health crisis. It's a milestone moment in the history
00:26of HIV. It has the potential to end the ends only if countries and people get access.
00:40Eswatini, a tiny kingdom in southern Africa, was once described as the epicenter of the
00:46world's HIV epidemic. The country's long and successful effort to fight that was
00:52upended by last year's unprecedented cuts to USAID that funded about half of the
00:57country's response budget.
01:02That was devastating for the most vulnerable, like sex workers Leanne and Ariana.
01:09They had entirely relied on foreign aid funded mobile clinics that provided them
01:15with their HIV prevention medication, also known as PrEP. All those services have been
01:22stopped. That's why they're here today, getting a jab that could change their lives and possibly
01:30the world.
01:31It's really painful.
01:33It's really painful.
01:35This is lenacapavir. It's a twice yearly jab that provides near complete protection against
01:42developing HIV. It's been called the closest thing to a vaccine. And it's being rolled
01:48out for the first time globally right now here in Eswatini.
01:53Thereafter here in Eswatini is went on.
01:55How is it?
01:59If you're afraid to through partying, you couldn't do all the above to UM, you can say to
02:06people at the cripple, that's if you're there, you don't have mental health, you can't believe
02:11it all well.
02:12It wasn't bad.
02:13How are we supposed to be doing it?
02:14Maybe it's not bad, but you're doing it?
02:18It's really bad, but knowing how if you're doing it.
02:19Especially if you're using people at testing state, people would have to understand the
02:22which is the one in our tool.
02:24What is this latest injectable?
02:26Why is it better?
02:27It's a milestone moment in the history of HIV.
02:30Developed by California-based company Gilead Sciences,
02:34the UN believes that lenacapivir, if properly deployed,
02:37could actually bring about the end of the pandemic
02:39by reducing new infections to zero.
02:42It's easy to administer, and unlike other forms of PrEP,
02:45which often come in the form of a pill every day,
02:47it requires just two visits a year to a clinic to get an injection.
02:52Len has come in the country as a game-changer.
02:56In fact, the world was actually on track to end the HIV epidemic by 2030.
03:02Now, if these cuts continue,
03:04there'll be millions more deaths and infections in the same timeframe,
03:08and possibly even double the number of medication-resistant strains of HIV.
03:13Viruses know no borders.
03:14This will impact the world.
03:17And so the plan right now from the Global Fund to Fight HIV, TB and Malaria
03:22is to roll out lenacapivir.
03:25Together with partners, including the US,
03:27they're talking about reaching 3 million people by 2020-AIDS.
03:32We have a tool that really could end HIV as a public health crisis.
03:37We really are at the point where we could change the scale.
03:41For now, we're rolling it out in Eswatini, Lesotho, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
03:51I think it's really important for us to provide early access to any new innovation that can be game-changing
03:59for infectious disease.
04:02At a Médecins Sans Frontières clinic in a town outside of the capital,
04:06the team here say they were only given 50 doses to distribute and have had to turn patients away.
04:13People have been queuing and asking for the products in the past weeks, especially now in our clinic for instance.
04:20Since this week we are out of stock as the countries are out of stock.
04:23Lenacapivir will also be distributed through generic manufacturing licences,
04:28which have been granted to six manufacturers to supply 120 countries and territories in the coming years.
04:35But parts of the world, like Latin America, where infections are rising, have been left out.
04:41Donors are targeting few countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa,
04:46leaving certain countries, in low- and medium-income countries, out of the stock.
05:01Lenacapivir will also be made available through generic manufacturing licences,
05:06which have been granted to six manufacturers to supply around 120 countries in the next few years.
05:13But whole parts of the world, like Latin America, where infections are rising, have been left out of that.
05:18If we do it a piecemeal, we don't fully deploy and make sure it gets to people, the expected impact
05:27will be very, very small.
05:30It is the moment to invest, and yet this is the time when we have shrinking budgets.
05:34So we are absolutely making that argument to all of our donors that it doesn't make logical and economic sense
05:40not to invest now in a new tool that will prevent infections in the future, prevent future costs.
05:47The maths is simple. According to the UN, it is far cheaper to prevent HIV than it is to treat
05:55millions of newly infected people.
06:15This has been a defining moment for the AIDS epidemic. We've been fighting for equitable access to new tools since
06:24the beginning.
06:25And this is the first time in history that we've got it right. So I hope we'll see the results
06:31from that.
06:33I hope that's been learned.
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