
A report on public-sector and philanthropic investment in biomedical HIV prevention documents a 19 percent decline in support for follow-up studies and operations research on voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC), from US$32 million in 2013 to $26 million in 2013. Reduced support for research on VMMC, microbicides, and HIV treatment as prevention, during a year when funding for other measures such as preventive vaccines and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) increased, accounts for a $10- million decline in global investments in biomedical HIV prevention in 2014. The report notes that early investment to ensure the uptake of interventions such as VMMC, PrEP, and female condoms is an increasing part of research and development for HIV prevention.