Symposia 8 - Improving treatment uptake and adherence
Tracks
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| Tuesday, August 18, 2026 |
| 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM |
| Gardenia |
Details
This session will focus on:
- Ways to improve access to ART
- Reducing loss to follow up of patients
- Improving ART Adherence
- undetectable = untransmissible (U = U)
Speaker
Pacific HIV Symposium
Anchor Abstracts
Dr. Tafireyi Marukutira
Senior Research Fellow
Burnet Institute
Dr Okyere Eunice
Assistant Professor In Public Health
Fiji National University
HIV Treatment Initiation and Adherence: Perspectives of People Living with HIV in Fiji.
Dr Eunice Okyere, Assistant Professor at Fiji National University, has diverse experience in research and teaching. She has been a principal or co-principal of various funded research including women’s health, maternal and child health, health systems, communicable and non-communicable diseases and HIV and has published extensively in these areas.
Ms Jessica Hill
Pacific Program Lead
Health Equity Matters
Advancing Human Rights and HIV Outcomes for Sex Workers in Papua New Guinea: A Peer-Led, Community-Based Approach
Cathy Ketepa is Chair of Key Populations Advocacy Consortium PNG Inc (KPAC PNG) and National Coordinator for Friends Frangipani. She champions the rights and wellbeing of sex workers, providing strategic leadership to strengthen community-led HIV and TB responses while ensuring community voices are represented in national health systems and decision-making.
Ms Jessica Hill
Pacific Program Lead
Health Equity Matters
Strengthening Community-Led HIV Response in Fiji: Peer Outreach as a Model for Trust, Linkage to Care, and Cross-Sector Partnerships
Atu Dokonivalu is the National Peer-Led Outreach Coordinator at Rainbow Pride Foundation in Fiji. He leads the rollout of the national peer-led outreach model, working with communities, civil society, and government to strengthen HIV prevention, improve referral pathways, and support coordinated, community-driven responses across all divisions.
Pacific HIV Symposium
Workshop: Treatment adherence and U=U
A panel discussion with U=U advocates to talk about U=U meaning and what its like to live with HIV with an undetectable viral load.
Dr Dashika Balak
Principal Medical Officer - Treatment, Care And Support Lead
Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV Unit, Ministry Of Health And Medical Services
Workshop Facilitator
Dr Dashika Anshu Balak is a Principal Medical Officer in the Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV Unit at Fiji’s Ministry of Health and Medical Services. She leads the Treatment, Care and Support Committee under the National HIV Outbreak and Cluster Response Taskforce, advancing integrated, evidence-based, people-centred HIV, BBV, STI and SRH services across Fiji.
Session Chair
Michelle O’Connor
Director, ASHM Global
ASHM Health
Percy Pokeya
PNG Country Lead
ASHM