Activists and public health professionals took to the stage during the opening plenary of the Research for HIV Prevention (HIVR4P) conference yesterday to challenge U.S. government research agencies and demand support for short-acting, user-controlled methods for HIV prevention. The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) is soon to announce its funding for prevention research, which will indicate the priorities for HIV prevention research for the next several years.

Just before Tony Fauci, M.D., director of the NIH's National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) took the stage to deliver his address to the crowd, several dozen people filed on the stage with signs that read: "Whose choice, our choice?" and "Dear NIAID, Fund Microbicides NOW!"

Just before speaking, Jim Pickett, chair of International Rectal Microbicides Advocates (IRMA), stepped to the mic and asked the audience whether he could take just two minutes of their time, and he began to speak from a prepared statement.

"We are here because previous calls to ensure that NIAID and USAID continue to support research on microbicides that are short-acting and user-controlled have been totally ignored, given the vast majority of feedback they themselves solicited last year," said Pickett. IRMA, along with the AVAC, released a reportearlier this month that developed out of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to analyze public comments given to NIAID about funding priorities for HIV prevention. Their report found that 79% of comments expressed a desire to see prevention research support a range of options to hopefully come to market, including microbicides. Advocates told TheBody in March 2018 that they feared NIAID was going to drop its support for microbicide trials, a point Pickett reiterated on stage.