On 5 March 2026, South Africa announced plans to produce lenacapavir locally, a long-acting HIV prevention drug originally developed by Gilead Sciences. Lenacapavir is a twice-yearly injection that has shown near-complete effectiveness in preventing HIV, making it one of the most promising tools in reducing infections, particularly in high-burden...
Health threats don’t respect borders, and neither should our response. On 5 March 2026, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the Japan Institute for Health Security (JIHS) signed a groundbreaking Memorandum of Cooperation to strengthen collaboration in infectious disease control, research, and public health...
Onchocerciasis also known as river blindness, remains a public health concern for millions of people living near rivers and wetlands in Africa. While often associated with rural communities, its impact is widespread, affecting livelihoods, education, and community wellbeing. River blindness is caused by a parasitic worm transmitted through the bite...
African health systems are at a critical crossroads. We can no longer be at the mercy of external donors for our own health. Sustainable, resilient healthcare must be built and financed from within the continent. In April 2025, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) unveiled a...
The ICASA Storytelling Video Competition was launched by the Society for AIDS in Africa (SAA) to celebrate its 35th anniversary and amplify the voices of people living with HIV across the continent and diaspora. The competition invited people living with HIV to share their personal journeys through video storytelling,...
Unitaid and USP provide technical and market support to strengthen regional manufacturing and supply resilience The Government of South Africa today announced that it is engaging with Gilead Sciences to pursue an agreement that would enable local production of lenacapavir, a revolutionary long-acting HIV prevention drug. As part of this...
Overview This operational guide provides practical, evidence-based guidance to support countries in planning, implementing and scaling up needle and syringe programmes for people who inject drugs as part of comprehensive harm reduction responses. It translates WHO's recommendations into actionable steps for programme managers, implementers, donors and community-led organizations. The guide presents...
In December the Society for AIDS in Africa (SAA), a Pan-African non-profit organisation committed to fighting for an HIV-free Africa, launched its African Journal for AIDS and Infectious Diseases (AJAID). The launch event formed part of the line-up of the 23rd International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA)...
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Ghana Office has urged African countries to scale up the integration of traditional medicine into their primary healthcare system and also invest in capacity-building. It said that for Africa to attain universal health coverage, which a lot of them had signed on to, they must...
A delegation from ICASA, led by Hon. Dr. David Pagwesese Parirenyatwa (ICASA President), Dr. Aliu Sylla (ICASA Secretary General), and Mr. Luc Armand Bodea (ICASA Director), conducted an official evaluation visit to the Republic of Benin from 4 to 7 November 2025. We are pleased to announce that Benin has...
