Advocates for the Prevention of HIV in Africa (APHA) announces that its co-founder and Executive Director, Yvette Raphael, has been awarded the prestigious Mani L. Bhaumik Breakthrough of the Year Award for her pivotal role in advancing HIV prevention through the development and testing of Lenacapavir, the revolutionary long-lasting HIV prevention drug.

The award, established by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), recognizes three key contributors to this medical breakthrough: Wesley Sundquist (University of Utah), who provided foundational scientific research; Moupali Das (Gilead Sciences), who championed clinical development; and Yvette Raphael, who ensured clinical trials were inclusive, ethical, and community-centered.

As Chair of the PURPOSE 1 Advisory Board, Raphael transformed clinical trial practices by insisting on the inclusion of young women, adolescents, and pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa. This inclusive approach led to groundbreaking results: 100% efficacy in preventing HIV infections with just two injections per year.

Raphael's leadership exemplifies how community engagement improves scientific outcomes. While celebrating this significant breakthrough, APHA acknowledges that more research is required to find an HIV vaccine and remains committed to ensuring these innovations become accessible to all who need them.

The organization recognizes that Raphael's work has required support from her Board, colleagues, program partners, fellow advocates, researchers, and communities, demonstrating that when scientists, pharmaceutical companies, and community advocates collaborate with mutual respect, extraordinary progress becomes possible.

Substandard and fake medicines remain a major threat in Africa, risking lives and fuelling drug resistance. A unified regulatory system, like the African Medicines Agency, backed by leadership training programmes like ARLP, could strengthen oversight, boost self-reliance, and save lives.

Researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa (Wits University) in collaboration with Huzhou University in China have discovered a way to protect quantum information from environmental disruptions, offering hope for more reliable future technologies.

Researchers from the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI), and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) have developed a reverse genetics system for African swine fever virus (ASFV). This new system will aid researchers in developing vaccines and in studying the pathogenesis and biology of ASFV, a highly contagious, deadly viral disease affecting domesticated and wild pigs, especially prevalent in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. A recent study estimates if ASFV reached the United States it could result in economic losses exceeding $50 billion over a ten-year period.

Scientists from South Africa and China have successfully established the world’s longest intercontinental ultra-secure quantum satellite link, spanning 12,900 km. Using the Chinese quantum microsatellite Jinan-1, launched into low Earth orbit, this milestone marks the first-ever quantum satellite communication link established in the Southern Hemisphere.

A critically endangered new species of killifish sampled from an ancient forest in Kenya in 2017 and 2018 has been described in the journal Zootaxa. Nothobranchius sylvaticus, from the Latin meaning “pertaining to the forest”, is also the first known endemic killifish to persist in a forest.

A unique analysis of district-level data reveals why inequality is so destructive to the household consumption welfare of people living below the poverty line. During negative economic growth, the welfare of the poor should be the main focus area.

A team of international researchers affiliated to the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University), in South Africa indicates in new research that a group of fossils belong to a single, young adult Paranthropus robustus. The fossil not only demonstrates that the species was, like modern humans, a habitual upright walker, but also confirms it was also extremely small.