Young people gave their time, their bodies, and their trust to help unlock breakthrough HIV prevention jab
Lenacapavir, a twice-yearly antiretroviral-containing injection, is one of the most promising tools yet in the fight to end HIV. (Photo: Shutterstock)As South Africa marks 50 years since the June 1976 youth uprising for a dream of freedom, a new generation of young people dreaming of an HIV-free future gave their time, trust, and participation to help deliver a breakthrough new HIV prevention product that was launched this June, writes Ntando Yola.
One of the greatest breakthroughs in the history of HIV prevention is long‑acting lenacapavir. After more than 20 years working in HIV prevention trials, watching our country launch the jab felt like one of my proudest professional moments. Getting us to this milestone was a culmination of science, community courage, and political leadership.
Lenacapavir, which is injected just under the skin twice in 12 months, promises a practical, low‑burden option for people most threatened by HIV, especially young women. It signals what happens when research listens to and serves its communities.
South Africa’s role in HIV research runs deep
We’ve hosted vaccine trials and a long stream of antiretroviral-based prevention studies — oral, topical, and now injectable Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), Prevention of Parent-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) — and embraced the treatment-as-prevention message of Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U).
Those gains were not produced in laboratories alone; they depended on ordinary people volunteering their time, their bodies, their trust. They came from communities across the country, such as Nyanga, KuGompo, Atteridgeville, Soweto, Bojanala, Vulindlela, Ladysmith, and many more.
Many were young women who joined trials so that they would worry less about acquiring HIV while trying to build a life. Others joined because they had lost loved ones and wanted to protect the next generation. Their participation is the moral foundation of the scientific progress we now celebrate.
Active participants
On June 5, at the official launch of South Africa’s lenacapavir rollout in Secunda, Mpumalanga, it was encouraging to see that young people were active participants in this moment. Youth mobilisers were visible at clinics and mobile services, urging peers to get the jab as recommended.
The regimen is simple: an injection that provides long-acting protection against HIV infection for six months. If a person still faces a chance of acquiring HIV at the end of those six months, they can return for another injection. That predictability respects the realities of young people’s lives since it reduces daily adherence burdens and offers flexible protection that can be stopped and restarted as circumstances change.
Lenacapavir’s rollout reflects South Africa’s whole-of-society response to HIV, TB and STIs. The government created an enabling environment for trials and rollout; the private sector had a role to play; and communities — organised civil society, from local organisations to national advocacy bodies — insisted that the science be ethical, accountable and responsive.
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s presence at the national launch mattered because political leadership signals that this is a national priority, increasing the chance that the innovation will be funded, scaled and delivered equitably.
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We should also recognise leaders who guided the research with scientific rigor and community partnership. Professor Linda-Gail Bekker, national principal investigator for the PURPOSE 1 study, provided steady scientific stewardship with teams of other research leaders. Yvette Raphael, as a community advisor for the PURPOSE 1 study, championed Good Participation — ensuring that communities helped shape how the research was conducted. Their leadership, combined with on-the-ground activists, clinicians and trial volunteers, turned research into real-world promise. (PURPOSE 1 and PURPOSE 2 were the pivotal phase 3 studies that lead to the registration of lenacapavir.)
The stakes are high. South Africa consumes roughly a quarter of the world’s antiretrovirals, as Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi reminded us at the launch, underscoring the global importance of prevention successes in our country. A long‑acting injectable that eases adherence could be transformative for those mostly impacted: young women, sex workers, men who have sex with men, and people facing structural barriers to care. Lenacapavir gives us a new tool to “turn off the tap” of new infections in communities and age groups that have borne the brunt of the epidemic.
Celebration must be paired with stewardship
New HIV prevention tools like lenacapavir must be rolled out ethically and equitably. That means free or affordable access at the point of care, clear counselling and support about benefits and risks, and deliberate strategies to overcome stigma and logistical barriers. It means prioritising those who participated in trials and the communities most affected, so the people who helped produce these breakthroughs reap the first benefits.
June 2026 also carries deep historical resonance. As we mark 50 years since the 1976 youth uprisings, we remember a generation that risked everything for a just future. Carrying that legacy forward, are today’s young people who joined clinical trials, who are mobilising peers at clinics, and who are choosing prevention options that suit their lives. Their energy and demands for dignity and health helped deliver the most effective prevention product of our time.
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That said, lenacapavir is not a cure-all, and it will not eliminate HIV on its own. But epidemics can turn a corner. This happens when robust science, committed communities, a socially responsive private sector, and sustained political will, all work together meaningfully.
To the volunteers, scientists, and leaders who brought us to this day: thank you. Now, we must move quickly and fairly to turn this promise into practice so that the next generation inherits not just the dream of freedom, but the tools to live HIV‑free.
*Yola is the Community Engagement Lead at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, which research solutions in the prevention and treatment of HIV and related infections. Also a co-founder of a non-profit, Advocates for Prevention of HIV in Africa (APHA), which advocates for translation of research findings into public health policy and programming.
Note: Spotlight aims to deepen public understanding of important health issues by publishing a variety of views on its opinion pages. The views expressed in this article are not necessarily shared by the Spotlight editors.
