HIV unmuted

This episode of HIV unmuted features an intimate conversation with Ambassador-at-Large Dr John N Nkengasong, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Senior Bureau Official for Global Health Security and Diplomacy (GHSD). Our host, Juan Michael Porter II, takes listeners through John N Nkengasong’s remarkable journey from his early days as a virologist to his current role leading the State Department’s Bureau of GHSD, which oversees the global implementation of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan...

In this special World AIDS Day episode of HIV unmuted, the IAS podcast, poet, advocate and researcher Bakita Kasadha joins host Juan Michael Porter II in a conversation that challenges preconceived notions and redefines how we discuss and address HIV stigma. Produced in collaboration with the IAS Heart of Stigma programme of IAS – the International AIDS Society – this episode dives into the transformative power of language, art and science in reshaping the global HIV narrative. Bakita s...

In this episode of HIV unmuted, host Juan Michael Porter II sits down with Jeanne Marrazzo, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), in a conversation that goes beyond the headlines and deep into the heart of HIV research and advocacy. Dr Marrazzo, a leader with decades of experience in infectious disease research, shares her inspiring journey from her roots in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to her groundbreaking work in HIV prevention and care. Throug...

This episode of HIV unmuted introduces a new host and format for the award-winning IAS podcast. Our host, Juan Michael Porter II, the Senior Editor for TheBody/TheBodyPro, takes a deep dive with a single guest in an intimate conversation that gives the listener a glimpse of the guest – who they are and how they got into this work – and an understanding of their topic of expertise. This new format opens with Sharon Lewin, the IAS President and AIDS 2024 International Co-Chair, wal...

On this World AIDS Day, the IAS calls on the HIV response to put communities first. This episode of HIV unmuted, the award-winning IAS podcast, puts the spotlight on a specific community that is often overlooked: people growing older with HIV. Remarkable strides in medicine and science have transformed the HIV response since the impact of AIDS-related illnesses in the 1980s, which claimed many lives prematurely. Thanks to access to life-saving treatments and proper care, it is now...

In this episode of HIV unmuted, the award-winning IAS podcast, we take a deep dive into the breaking science being released at IAS 2023 and explain why these breakthroughs are so important for people living with and affected by HIV. Set in Australia, a country that is closing in on the elimination of HIV transmission, the conference highlights the latest research, including more hope for an HIV cure, expanding prevention options and insights into mpox. Guests also give us insight...

This special episode of HIV unmuted, the award-winning IAS podcast, marks World AIDS Day, which has taken place on 1 December every year since 1988. On this day, we remember the people we have lost, reflect on how far we have come, and rally together to strengthen our resolve in the HIV response. The latest UNAIDS data from 2021 shows our approach must change: 70% of new HIV acquisitions globally occur among key populations (gay men and other men who have sex with men, people who injec...

The history of the HIV response is woven into the International AIDS Conferences. Ground-breaking science and political activism at the conferences have uniquely shaped the trajectory of the response. Conferences in Canada have played key roles. In Montreal in 1989, protestors stormed the stage, establishing activism in the HIV response. In Vancouver in 1996, delegates celebrated a treatment revolution that saw HIV become a manageable condition. Today, AIDS 2022 returns to Montre...

The development of COVID-19 vaccines has allowed some people to return to “normal life”. But even now, not everyone can access these vaccines, particularly people living in low-income countries. Unequal access to healthcare is a sadly familiar story for people living with HIV. From 1997 to 2006, an estimated 12 million people on the continent of Africa died because HIV treatment was too expensive. In this episode of HIV unmuted, the award-winning IAS podcast, we will discuss why...

Eastern Europe and Central Asia is the region of the world where HIV acquisitions are increasing the fastest. In Ukraine, an estimated 260,000 people are living with HIV. Many thousands more are vulnerable to acquiring HIV and rely on access to HIV prevention services. In this episode of HIV unmuted, the IAS podcast, we hear how the Russian invasion of Ukraine could mean a resurgence of Ukraine’s AIDS epidemic. And in a region with an already rapidly growing HIV epidemic, this could be ...

The discovery of a safe and effective HIV cure would move us closer to a world in which HIV no longer presents a threat to public health and individual well-being. In this special World AIDS Day episode of HIV unmuted, the IAS podcast, we share the human endeavours behind the journey to a cure – and the hope it would bring to 38 million people living with HIV. We are joined by: · IAS President-Elect Sharon Lewin on the latest cu...

In 1987, the United States introduced the world’s first laws criminalizing HIV. Today, despite scientific evidence that HIV criminalization harms public health, 92 countries still have laws that are used to prosecute people living with HIV. In this episode of HIV unmuted, the IAS podcast, we hear how these unjust laws have forever changed the lives of three people living with HIV and what must be done to end the criminalization of HIV. Listen now to their stories of injustice, f...

We now move to the 1990s. Dr David Ho, Time Magazine’s 1996 Person of the Year and personal doctor to basketball legend Magic Johnson, talks to our host, Femi Oke, about his role in developing pioneering combination drug therapy. This treatment breakthrough helped transform HIV from a likely death sentence into a manageable condition if you had access to care and medication. We are also joined by three HIV activists who were all diagnosed young and kept their status a secret for many y...

On our second episode of HIV unmuted, Nobel Laureate Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi shares the behind-the-scenes story of how she co-discovered HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. This breakthrough provided the first big scientific step forward and hope for treatment. We are also joined by: Neal Blewett, Australia’s Health Minister (1983-1991) on leading his country’s forward-thinking bipartisan effortsLong-term survivor, Pacific Islander Vince Crisostomo, on facing mounting loss, fear...

Our first episode jumps back to 1981 Dr Anthony Fauci talks to our host, Femi Oke, about how the emergence of this mysterious disease, later known as AIDS, changed the course of his career. He shares why an HIV vaccine, promised by 1986, is the “big and last Holy Grail that we have to achieve”. We are also joined by: · Physician Dr Michael Gottlieb, the first to report AIDS as a new disease in June 1981 · HIV activist and epide...

It’s been 40 years since AIDS was first reported. We now live in a world where AIDS has become old news: the forgotten pandemic. HIV unmuted, the IAS - International AIDS Society - podcast, brings together global HIV change-makers as we journey through the last four decades. We recreate moments in time, and spotlight the scientific advances and human endeavours central to the response. Together, we reflect on our past, focus on our present and look to the future. This is HIV unmu...