Integrating HIV prevention into public health systems while protecting equitable access

Kenneth Ngure is an Associate Professor of Global Health and immediate former Dean of the School of Public Health of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya. He is an Affiliate Associate Professor of the Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Visiting Scientist at Kenyatta National Hospital and, recently, a visiting Professor at the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health. He is also a member of the Expert Committee on Clinical Trials of the Kenyan Pharmacy and Poisons Board.

Kenneth is a member of the Behavioral Research Group of the Microbicides Trials Network (MTN), the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Network (IMPAACT), the Socio-Behavioral and Structural Working Group of the HIV Prevent Trials Network (HPTN), and Office of HIV/AIDS Network Coordination (HANC) Cross-Network Behavioral Science Consultative Group (BSCG). He is Pillar 1 co-lead for Microbicide R&D to Advance HIV Prevention Technologies through Responsive Innovation and eXcellence (MATRIX). These groups are directed towards the development of new biomedical strategies to prevent HIV.
Kenneth is an HIV prevention expert, having been a site investigator in the landmark Partners PrEP trial, which was followed by the Partners (PrEP) Demonstration Project and, more recently, the Partners Scale-UP Project. He is also a member of the PrEP Technical Working Group of the Ministry of Health, Kenya. Recently, Kenneth co-chaired a protocol (MTN-034) to evaluate the safety of and adherence to a vaginal matrix ring containing dapivirine and oral emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate in an African adolescent female population. He is co-lead on a randomized trial that tests how HIV self-testing might support PrEP delivery among men and women in Kenya (R01MH113572) and is currently leading the behavioural component of several other multinational studies that are looking into simplifying PrEP delivery.

Kenneth has over 25 years of public health leadership experience gained in diverse HIV and AIDS research settings in central, eastern, southern and western Africa. This includes working as a Program Director for the Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA – Kenyan Chapter) and consulting for organizations that include the World Health Organization. He was recently re-elected to represent Africa on the Governing Council of the IAS, where he also sits on the Executive Board. Kenneth has authored or co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed conference abstracts and 160 peer-reviewed manuscripts.

Sara M. Allinder, MPP, is Deputy Director of the Center for Innovation in Global Health at Georgetown University and Program Director of the Blantyre Prevention Strategy (BPS). She also is a co-investigator for Malawi’s PathToScale Injectable PrEP implementation science study. Ms. Allinder has more than 20 years’ experience in global health, foreign policy, international development, human rights, and program management. From 2016-2020, she was Senior Fellow and Executive Director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) where she was lead for HIV and supported activities on nutrition, other infectious diseases, global health security, and women’s and family health. Ms. Allinder also spent more than a decade working on the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in Washington, DC, and in Uganda where she served as Country Coordinator of the PEPFAR program (2013-15). In four stints at the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy, U.S. Department of State (2003-16), Ms. Allinder was a senior advisor on PEPFAR management, operations, and policy issues. She also was policy adviser in the Office of International Health Affairs in an earlier role at the State Department. Ms. Allinder holds a Master of Public Policy, concentration in International Development and Health, and a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, in Political Science and Sociology, from The American University, Washington, DC. She is currently a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) candidate at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health.

Gaetan Gatete, MSc, is an epidemiologist with a Master of Science in Field Epidemiology from the University of Rwanda and a background in Clinical Medicine and Community Health. He currently serves as the Acting Director of the HIV Epidemiology, Surveillance and Research Unit within the National HIV/AIDS Program at the Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC).

With nearly a decade of experience in Rwanda’s health sector, Gaetan has led and contributed to strategic HIV surveillance, epidemiological research, and evidence generation to inform national policies and programs. He played a key role in the development of Rwanda’s HIV National Strategic Plan and in securing major donor-funded grants, including support from the Global Fund and PEPFAR. His research experience includes HIV surveillance among key populations, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, and non-communicable diseases among people living with HIV. He has authored peer-reviewed publications and presented research findings at national and international scientific conferences.

Rena Janamnuaysook is Director of Implementation Research and Innovation at the Institute of HIV Research and Innovation (IHRI) in Bangkok, Thailand, and a leading expert in transgender health and HIV implementation science in Asia. She co-established Tangerine Clinic, the first transgender-led, integrated gender-affirming and sexual health clinic in Asia, which serves as a platform for service delivery, innovation, and research. Her current work focuses on community-led HIV prevention, including differentiated PrEP delivery, long-acting HIV prevention technologies, transgender-competent primary and sexual healthcare, and stigma and discrimination reduction in health systems. She is a co-founder of the Thai Transgender Alliance and serves on multiple WHO Guidelines Development Groups, including those on long-acting injectable cabotegravir for HIV prevention and the health of trans and gender-diverse people.

Richard Lusimbo is a Ugandan global health and human rights advocate with over 16 years of experience advancing equitable access to HIV, health and human rights services for key and marginalised populations. He is the Founder and Director General of the Uganda Key Populations Consortium, where he leads national coordination, advocacy, community systems strengthening and socio-economic justice initiatives for key population-led organisations. Richard is also Co-founder and Board Co-Chair of Global Black Gay Men Connect and serves on the UNAIDS Global Council on Inequality, AIDS and Pandemics. His work bridges community leadership, policy advocacy, evidence generation and rights-based health programming. He has contributed to national, regional and global HIV platforms, with a strong focus on ensuring that HIV prevention remains community-led, inclusive, sustainable and accessible to those most at risk.

Stephanie M. Topp is Professor of Global Health and Development at James Cook University, Australia, and Director of the Centre for Rural, Remote and Tropical Health Systems. She is a health systems researcher and practitioner with 18 years’ experience in health policy and systems research, including long-standing work on HIV, primary health care, governance, integration, equity, accountability and trust. Stephanie lived and worked in Zambia from 2007-2015 has continued to collaborate on HIV and health systems research in sub-Saharan Africa, most recently as a visiting Professor with Zambart in 2025. She has authored more than 140 peer-reviewed publications, including in The Lancet, The Lancet Global Health, AIDS, BMJ Global Health, and Social Science & Medicine. Stephanie is a visiting Professor at the Australian National University and holds a current NHMRC Investigator fellowship.