Person-centred care approaches for preventing HPV-related cancers among people living with HIV

Marlène Bras has more than 13 years of experience in public health, research and management in the HIV field. She is the Director, HIV Programmes and Advocacy at the IAS and the Executive Editor of the Journal of the International AIDS Society (JIAS). A basic scientist by training, Marlène has worked across HIV disciplines from basic and clinical sciences to behavioural, epidemiology and implementation sciences.

Adeeba Kamarulzaman is the Immediate past president of the International AIDS Society and is Chief Executive Officer of Monash University Malaysia and the Pro Vice-Chancellor and President (Malaysia) of Monash University Australia. She established the Infectious Diseases Unit and the Centre of Excellence for Research in AIDS (CERiA) at the University of Malaya and held the position of Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, from 2011 to 2019. She remains Chairman of the Malaysian AIDS Foundation, a trust that raises funds for HIV prevention, treatment and care programmes implemented by the Malaysian AIDS Council. She is presently Vice-Chair of the WHO Science Council and Commissioner for the Global Commission on Drug Policy and was recently appointed as a Member of the UNAIDS Global Council of Inequality, AIDS and Pandemics.

Mary Nyangasi is a Technical Officer, Cancer at the World Health Organization, Switzerland. She is a medical doctor and global health practitioner with a 13-year career experience in clinical practice, cancer policy, programming, leadership, and governance. She most recently served for 6 years as the Head of the National Cancer Control Program in Kenya where she led the formulation and implementation of various cancer policy documents notably two National Cancer Control Strategies, action plans and various guidelines. Mary led the scale-up of cervical and breast cancer screening programs through integrated approaches (from 14% to 60% of public health facilities), the establishment of regional cancer treatment centers and chaired the first Kenya National Cancer Taskforce in 2021.

Meg Doherty is the Director of the Department of Global HIV, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections Programmes at the World Health Organization. She has more than 25 years of experience in HIV and infectious diseases including leading the WHO’s normative and programmatic work on expanding HIV treatment to all and reducing inequalities in access to the most effective antiretrovirals for people living with HIV. Meg spent 10 years in low- and middle-income countries, advising ministries of health and international partners on implementing comprehensive HIV and infectious disease programmes.

Benda Kithaka is a Health Advocacy & Behaviour Change Communications Specialist, with over 20 years' experience in communications, research, marketing and health advocacy. She founded KILELE Health - a Kenyan non-profit working with survivors and caregivers - to harness lived experiences as tools for advocacy across Africa. KILELE Health is also the Secretariat for the African Cervical Health Alliance (ACHA). Benda sits on various global, regional, and local Technical Working Groups, as a consultant Technical Advisor on Cervical Health and Advocacy. Benda has received many local and global awards and has authored many articles in peer reviewed journals. Follow her work on X @BendaKithaka #KileleChallenge or #DontDropTheBall.

Karen Canfell is the inaugural Director of the Daffodil Centre, a flagship centre of the University of Sydney and a joint venture with Cancer Council NSW, Australia. She is also Professor & NHMRC Leadership Fellow, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney. Her research involves evaluation and translation of new strategies for cancer control, and she has led multiple impact and economic evaluations for government agencies in Australia and internationally.

Helen Kelly is a consultant epidemiologist in the Dept of HIV, Hepatitis and STIs at WHO. Her work focusses on the integration of cervical cancer screening and treatment and HIV prevention and treatment services. She has previously worked with the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, the Catalan Institute of Oncology and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her research focussed on evaluating interventions to control and prevent HPV related disease among people living with HIV, including the role of antiretroviral therapy on HPV infection and cervical precancer, and evaluation of screening methods for early detection and management of cervical precancer in women living with HIV.

Doreen Namagetsi Ali is the Director for Reproductive Health in Malawi. In her role, she is tasked with coordinating the integration, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights services (SRHR). These SRHR services include Family planning, Adolescent and Youth Friendly Health Services, Gender and Gender-based violence, Maternal and Neonatal Child Health and Cervical Cancer management. As head of Reproductive Health Services, she is advocating for resources for early identification and management of Cervical cancer to reach the hard to reach communities with focus of Primary Health Care and Universal Health Coverage and not leaving anyone behind. She is geared to assist Malawi realize her vision of the Health Sector which is to achieve a state of health for all the people of Malawi that would enable them to lead a quality and productive life.

Maribel Almonte is an epidemiologist with long-term expertise on cervical cancer prevention. She joined IARC in 2013 to lead large multinational cervical screening studies. She is spending two years at the WHO as the Implementation Scientist within Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative team, leading cervical screening and treatment guidelines and implementation research and supporting countries to achieve elimination goals.

Andrew Grulich is a medical epidemiologist and specialist public health physician with 30 years of experience in conducting HIV research and working for implementation of the results of that research. He is Theme Director, Populations and Prevention, and Head of the HIV Epidemiology and Prevention Program, at the Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He leads research on the prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted infections in gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.

Sally Agallo has lived with HIV for more than 20 years. She has survived cancer three times and now has an ostomy. Salome is a lived experience advocate and representative of the Our View, Our Voices initiative of the NCD Alliance. Salome shares her story because she wishes to inspire and encourage someone who may be losing hope and to let health systems know about the importance of adopting an integrated approach to disease prevention and management. You can find out more about Sally’s story here: https://www.bbc.com/storyworks/facing-forward/combining-care-to-save-lives