Symposia 9 - Strengthening infant, child and adolescent HIV testing, treatment, care and support
Tracks
.
| Tuesday, August 18, 2026 |
| 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM |
| Frangipani |
Details
This session will focus on:
- Establishing and monitoring children and adolescents on antiretroviral therapy, as well as how to identify and manage treatment failure.
- Models of care to engage and retain women and their infants for prevention of vertical HIV transmission.
- Strengthening pathways to retain children and adolescents living with HIV in care.
Speaker
Pacific HIV Symposium
Anchor Abstracts
Dr Sakiusa Natasere
Medical Intern
Ministry Of Health Fiji
10 YEAR RETROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY ON CHILDREN DIAGNOSED WITH HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS (HIV) AT COLONIAL WAR MEMORIAL HOSPITAL (CWMH)
Sakiusa Natasere is a Fiji-based medical doctor who completed his MBBS at Fiji National University. He is a Medical Intern at CWM Hospital, with experience in public health and pediatrics. He is presenting research on pediatric HIV trends and aims to pursue general practice training while contributing to clinical research.
Ms Jessica Hill
Pacific Program Lead
Health Equity Matters
Strengthening HIV Services for Mothers and Adolescent Girls in the National Capital District, Papua New Guinea: A Community-Led Monitoring Approach
Delma Yeki is President of WABHA PNG Inc and Vice-Chair of Key Populations Advocacy Consortium PNG Inc (KPAC PNG). A leader and advocate for women living with HIV, she works to strengthen community-led responses, improve access to care, and promote mental health, gender equality, and family wellbeing across PNG.
Dr Janet Gare
Head Of Surveillance & Outbreak Unit
Papua New Guinea Institute Of Medical Research
Programmatic Scale-Up of Clinic-Based Viral Load Testing in Papua New Guinea: Implications for Paediatric HIV Care and Drug Resistance Surveillance
Head of the Surveillance and Outbreak Unit at the PNG Institute of Medical Research, Goroka. Janet leads multidisciplinary teams delivering innovative health programs, clinical research, and disease surveillance. She is PNG’s lead investigator on a DFAT-funded project implementing HIV drug resistance surveillance and point-of-care viral load and early infant diagnostics.
Pacific HIV Symposium
Workshop: Treatment establishing, monitoring and failure in children and adolescents
This panel session will discuss experiences and approaches to establishing children and adolescents on antiretroviral therapy and monitoring their response to treatment, as well the identification and management of treatment failure in children and adolescents.
Dr Gamini Vali Boma
Paediatrician
Port Moresby General Hospital -papua New Guinea
Workshop Facilitator
Pacific HIV Symposium
Workshop: Retention in care and case finding for women, children and adolescents
This panel session will discuss experiences and models of case finding for children and adolescents who are at risk of attrition from care of are loss to follow-up. This will also include discussion on retaining women and their infants in care for the prevention of vertical HIV transmission.
Dr Antoinette David
Pediatrician
Fiji Ministry of Health
Workshop facilitator
Dr Antoinette David. is Paediatrician, Colonial Memorial Hospital, in Suva Fiji. She has been at the forefront of Fiji's Paediatric HIV response.
Session Chair
Antoinette David
Pediatrician
Fiji Ministry of Health