12th Symposium on Children and Adolescents with Perinatal HIV Exposure - Session 3: Long-term follow-up: From data to action

The 12th Symposium builds on over a decade of meetings dedicated to the health and wellbeing of children and adolescents born HIV-free to women living with HIV, an estimated global population of nearly 16 million. This session titled, “Long-term follow-up: From data to action“ looks at why it matters to consistently track perinatal HIV and antiretroviral exposure to understand long-term outcomes. It brings in perspectives from the community on lived experiences, alongside research such as the multi-country RISE Study, and considers how better data can inform policies and programmes that support the long-term health and development of affected children and adolescents.

26 July 2026
English
Chair

Catherine Wedderburn

University of Cape Town

Speakers

Catherine Wedderburn

University of Cape Town

Session outline

Agnes Ronan

Paediatric Adolescent Treatment Africa

Maria Leticia Cruz

Hospital dos Servidores do Estado - RJ

Kim Melunsky (Née Anderson)

University of Cape Town

Debate – Health systems should systematically document perinatal HIV and ARV exposure in health records to enable long-term follow up of health outcomes of persons with perinatal HIV exposure

Agnes Ronan

Paediatric Adolescent Treatment Africa

Tracking perinatal HIV exposure and long-term outcome

Agnes Ronan

Paediatric Adolescent Treatment Africa

Maria Leticia Cruz

Hospital dos Servidores do Estado - RJ

Kim Melunsky (Née Anderson)

University of Cape Town

Q&A

Irene Njuguna

Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University

BONDS: A multi-country study of a nurturing care intervention package to improve neurodevelopment outcomes for children with perinatal HIV exposure
Anurita Bains

Anurita Bains

UNICEF

Florence Anam

Florence Anam

Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+)

Reassessing priorities: aligning research and programming to support lifelong outcomes
Sonia Lee

Sonia Lee

NIH NICHD

Closing remarks