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 cure strategies and the hope the most recent person cured of HIV, the “Esperanza patient”, provides for a cure  

·         Adam, the “London patient”, and his doctor, Ravi Gupta, on the bone marrow transplant that cured Adam of HIV, and why it’s not a feasible cure for all 

·         Moses “Supercharger” Nsubuga on how travelling home next to his coffin to die changed his life and led him to become an HIV cure advocate in Uganda 

The third edition of Research Priorities for an HIV Cure: IAS Global Scientific Strategy was published on World AIDS Day in Nature Medicine. It highlights critical gaps, progress made, and the next steps science must follow towards a scalable, affordable and culturally appropriate cure. Find out more at iasociety.org/WAD2021

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 years:

•             Doreen Moraa Moracha, social media influencer from Kenya, who was born with HIV in 1992

•             Nathaniel Hall, star of television’s ''It’s a Sin'', which tells the story of the early years of AIDS in the UK, on his HIV diagnosis at age 16

•             Shawn Decker, POZ magazine blogger, musician and educator, who contracted HIV as a child through the use of blood products to treat haemophilia.

Plus, hear about the latest scientific advances from IAS 2021 – the 11th IAS Conference on HIV Science – that are revolutionizing treatment, as well as prevention. These include leveraging long-acting implants and injections so that people no longer have to rely on daily pills.


ViiV Healthcare: NP-GBL-HVU-PCST-210004
Date of preparation: June-2021

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 efforts
• Long-term survivor, Pacific Islander Vince Crisostomo, on facing mounting loss, fear and stigma
• South African, Vuyiseka Dubula, who busts the myths that drove her to activism

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 epidemiologist Dr Gregg Gonsalves on his role in galvanizing community activism

·         Advocates Vincent Basajja (Uganda), Udom Likhitwonnawut (Thailand) and Maureen Luba(Malawi) dispelling myths about vaccines and vaccine research

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 unmuted. Join us.