Welcome to the final differentiated service delivery (DSD) newsletter of 2025 from IAS – the International AIDS Society. This edition spotlights operational guidance for integrated DSD for HIV and family planning.

Integrated DSD for ART and family planning in Mozambique

By Marina Martinez Prieto, Ministry of Health, Mozambique

A quarter of women of reproductive age in Mozambique use a modern contraceptive method, particularly injectables, and 26% have an unmet need for family planning (FP); 87% of women living with HIV are on antiretroviral treatment (ART). This provides a high-volume and sustainable platform for integrated delivery of subcutaneous depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA-SC) and other modern contraceptive methods.

National guidelines for integration of FP and HIV services, launched in 2015, have not been updated to accommodate the rollout of DSD models for HIV. Some integration of FP services occurs at ART consultations, but it often only includes giving a starter pack of pills or DMPA-SC. The result is that women on ART have to receive their comprehensive FP services – including counselling, contraceptive methods continuation and follow up – separately from HIV services.

To address these challenges, Mozambique developed an integrated package of care for women of reproductive age living with HIV who are enrolled in the six-month multi-month dispensing model that provides a combined ART-FP clinical consultation and scripting. This package comprises routine FP counselling in each clinical HIV review/ART refill and integrated DSD counselling. It offers a range of contraceptive methods – including DMPA-SC self-injectable demonstration, implant insertion and coordinated referral for IUD insertion at FP services – and synchronized refill schedules for ART and FP.

Initial implementation will be in 80 health facilities across five provinces over two years, phased to gather evidence and best practices, refine the approach and demonstrate viability before national scale up.

Don't miss

Differentiated service delivery for family planning

This supplement to A Decision Framework for antiretroviral therapy delivery, developed by the IAS, outlines how DSD models can be leveraged towards strengthening family planning services, including through integrated DSD for HIV treatment and PrEP.

Also available in French and Portuguese.

Get involved: Send your feedback on the TIER tool

The TIER Tool – Tool for Intervention, Evaluation and Ranking

The TIER Excel tool, developed by the IAS, is designed to support countries in their planning and prioritization of HIV programme elements in the context of funding shifts, providing a structured framework to prioritize HIV programme components.

We welcome feedback about the TIER tool at dsd@iasociety.org.

Looking ahead, looking back

Looking ahead …

• The International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) will take place in Accra, Ghana, on 3-8 December 2025. Join the IAS DSD team for two satellite sessions on 3 December, focusing on prioritization of HIV services amid funding cuts and DSD for family planning.
• Join us and register for AIDS 2026, the 26th International AIDS Conference, taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and virtually on 26-31 July 2026. Share your research to be considered for presentation. Abstract submissions will be accepted until 27 January 2026.
• In the lead up to AIDS 2026, the IAS is calling on stakeholders around the globe to rally around the theme: Rethink. Rebuild. Rise. By uniting behind a single call – to rethink, rebuild and rise – the HIV response can speak with one voice across communities, countries and conferences. Join the global movement by sharing your story, message, photo or video using the hashtag, #RethinkRebuildRise. Let the world know what a truly transformative HIV response looks like – through your eyes. Access our social media toolkit (EN/ES/PT) for ready-to-use visuals and posts.
• The 33rd Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2026) will be held in Denver, USA, on 22-25 February 2026. View the preliminary programme.

Looking back …

• The Global Fund’s Eighth Replenishment Summit took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Friday, 21 November. It resulted in a USD 11.3 billion pledge, short of the USD 18 billion required to stay on track to meet global targets. IAS President Beatriz Grinsztejn commented: “Every dollar short of the Global Fund replenishment goals represents lives that could have been saved, but now may not be. In this challenging year for global health, countries that bear the heaviest HIV burden are being forced to make difficult choices. Those choices have just got harder: who receives life-saving services, who goes without?” View detailed pledging results.
• The CQUIN annual meeting convened representatives from network countries and global stakeholders to share progress in planning and implementation, performance updates, innovations, impact and challenges in service adaptations and system modifications. The meeting took place in Durban, South Africa, on 17-21 November. View the country update posters, including details on how HIV activities are being prioritized.
• UNAIDS shared the draft Global AIDS Strategy 2026-2030 for adoption at the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board meeting in Brasília, Brazil, on 16-18 December. The strategy is aimed at ensuring that by 2030, 40 million people living with HIV are on HIV treatment and virally suppressed, 20 million people are using ART-based HIV prevention options, and “all people can access discrimination-free HIV-related services”.
• View the recording and slides from CQUIN’s webinar, “Strategic HIV Service Prioritization for Impact in a Changing Financial Context”, featuring country experiences from Nigeria and Kenya on prioritizing their HIV services.

What we're reading

What we're watching

South Africa National Health Department launches national rollout of 6MMD

Watch this SABC news feature on the launch of national 6MMD rollout in South Africa and the related interview with Nonhlanhla Ndlovu, Deputy Director General for HIV/AIDS, TB and Maternal and Child Health at the National Department of Health.

Get in touch

Do you have content for the next newsletter? We want to hear from you.
Email us at dsd@iasociety.org.

www.differentiatedservicedelivery.org