INSPIRE Designathon
2027 INSPIRE Designathon coming in January!
Mission
We are working towards an HIV-free generation of adolescents and young adults.
We believe in the insights, wisdom, and power of youth!
We nurture academic and non-academic collaborations working to bridge the gap between effective HIV strategies and real world impact on young Africans.
Process
Proposal
Teams of two to four academic/researcher and community members are invited to develop and submit proposals.
Prototype
During our three-day sprint in Lagos, Nigeria, the eight selected teams will bring to life their ideas in the form of visuals, animations, infographics, prototypes with various tools and refine their proposed solutions with the help of our mentors.
Pitch
Teams pitch their refined prototype to judges to be awarded seed funding for piloting or implementing their proposals.
Put into Practice
With the help of INSPIRE’s D&I mentors, three winning teams will execute the strategies they finalized during the Designathon sprint over the course of one year.
About our 2026 Designathon: Scaling Up Lenacapavir for Youth-Centered HIV Prevention and Care Across Africa
Lenacapavir (LEN) represents one of the most promising long-acting HIV prevention and treatment options, particularly for adolescents and young adults. Yet, while the science is strong, the pathways for equitable access, acceptability, and effective delivery are still emerging across African settings.
To ensure youth benefit from these innovations, we need implementation strategies that fit the realities of young people’s lives—schools, youth hubs, safe spaces, mobile outreach programs, peer networks, digital platforms, and other environments where adolescents feel comfortable seeking care.
This open call seeks to catalyze adaptation and scale-up strategies that make lenacapavir—and youth-centered HIV prevention and care—more broadly accessible, acceptable, and sustainable for young people across Africa.
Read: WHO recommends injectable lenacapavir for HIV prevention
Our 2026 Designathon combines participatory design with implementation science to advance practical, culturally grounded, and scalable solutions that bring long-acting HIV prevention and treatment (i.e., lenacapavir) closer to where young people live, learn, and connect. Teams were asked to address the question: How might we scale up long-acting injectable lenacapavir and integrate it into youth-centered HIV prevention and care across Africa?
Eight selected teams traveled to Lagos, Nigeria for a three-day sprint to hone and pitch their ideas in May 2026. Teams will pitch their ideas to a panel of expert judges. Three winning teams were awarded up to US$10,000 to implement their project ideas.