Malaysia's DCA has approved Apretude (cabotegravir) for high-risk groups after an Asean joint assessment, the first and only treatment by injection for HIV pre-exposure prevention. Cabotegravir only has to be taken every 2 months, unlike daily PrEP pills.
Experts are calling for royalty negotiations with ViiV Healthcare and the Medicines Patent Pool in an effort to reduce the price of dolutegravir, which is currently estimated to be 17 times higher in Malaysia compared to neighbouring Thailand.
Prof Izhar Ariff Mohd Kashim from UKM’s Faculty of Religious Studies, who spoke at MOH’s World AIDS Day celebration in Negeri Sembilan, allegedly told transgender people to “bertaubat” and falsely claimed that being LGBT is a root cause of HIV infection.
Listed among second-tier countries in a ViiV Healthcare-MPP deal, Malaysia will have access to generics of long-acting injectable preventive HIV medication, cabotegravir, in 2027 at the earliest.
Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman says she would invest in online self-testing for HIV and improve linkages to treatment and PrEP to end AIDS in Malaysia by 2030.
Civil society in Ukraine rode bicycles to deliver HIV and tuberculosis medications during a fuel shortage during the Russia-Ukraine conflict; if there were no bicycles, they walked.
CodeBlue editor-in-chief Boo Su-Lyn tells the AIDS 2022 conference that stigma and discrimination in Malaysia – which is seeing rising HIV infections – must be tackled so that people living with HIV can share their stories for better advocacy.
Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman notes that diabetes kills more people than HIV in South Africa and that the burden from NCDs, like hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, is increasing globally.