On May 31st, 2025, Dr. Dvora Joseph Davey stopped all operations on her clinical study that provided PrEP and counseling services to pregnant and postpartum women in a high HIV incidence community in South Africa. The study was halfway through follow up with pregnant and postpartum women when the funding was cut by the U.S. government. Dr. Joseph Davey was forced to lay off all 20 field staff and abruptly end the vital support the study provided to participants to prevent HIV – increasing the risk of HIV acquisition for the women and vertical transmission to their infants in this crucial time of increased risk.

Dr Joseph Davey was first drawn to this field of research while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon, where she witnessed the “disconnect between all of the products and the services that are available to us in the U.S. versus in the African community” when it came to HIV prevention and family planning. More than two decades later, she was working to reduce pediatric HIV in South Africa until funding cuts disrupted the HIV prevention infrastructure and research she had helped build. A staunch advocate for equity in global health, the sudden loss of U.S. funding has Dr Joseph Davey focusing on not only on her own research but on ensuring funding goes directly to the scientists and institutions in the communities most affected, rather than leaving their work dependent on U.S. institutions.

After the program was stopped in May, Dr Joseph Davey was able to still secure some funding for data analysis and dissemination, but the funding only went to UCLA to cover her salary and the salaries of her other co-investigators and they “weren't able to give any money, not even $1, to South Africa.” While consultant contracts allowed data analysis to happen in South Africa, Dr Joseph Davey realized she needed to help colleagues who’ve helped her research in the past apply to European and private foundation donors so she can ensure that “the funding doesn't come through [me and] UCLA; it comes directly to the partner. That's really what you want to see with global equity: that the funding comes directly to the partners, and that they're able to manage the funds.”

The future of funding for HIV prevention research remains unclear, especially in South Africa as it only became eligible for NIH funding on September 1st and Dr Joseph Davey notes that “there's not as much trust in the U.S. government right now.” As Dr Joseph Davey tries to continue her research in South Africa, she realizes that “there's fewer opportunities for these early-stage investigators who are African, and I’m really trying to work with them to ensure that they're able to get funding.” So, while she rebuilds her own research, Dr Joseph Davey is also fighting to ensure African researchers, especially women of color, have the resources to work in the HIV prevention field alongside her.