Affiliated Independent Events

The International Indigenous Pre-conference on HIV & AIDS, scheduled for July 2026 in Rio, represents a critical gathering aimed at addressing the unique challenges faced by Indigenous populations in the response to HIV and AIDS.  

This conference will highlight the cultural relevance of ancestral science, showcasing how traditional healing practices can complement contemporary medical approaches to improve health outcomes for Indigenous communities. With a lineup of esteemed academic speakers and representatives of grassroots movements, the event will focus on sharing knowledge and strategies that honour cultural teachings while promoting effective health interventions. By fostering collaboration among diverse stakeholders, this pre-conference aims to empower Indigenous voices and enhance the global response to HIV and AIDS, ensuring that solutions are culturally appropriate and community driven. 

The International Workshop on Pediatrics & HIV 2026 brings together global experts to advance research, clinical care and policy for infants, children, adolescents and pregnant individuals affected by HIV. The meeting is highly interactive and research driven, featuring expert talks, debates, oral abstracts and guided poster tours. 

The programme opens with the workshop chairs, Lynne Mofenson and Elaine Abrams, followed by a social opening from local co-chairs Jorge Pinto and Cristina Barroso. 

The first session, “Global Update on Pediatric HIV”, includes invited talks by Savvy Brar on the global epidemic and Omar Sued on maternal and pediatric HIV in Latin America, with discussion afterwards. A panel discussion on funding cuts features Mary-Ann Davies, Eleanor Namusoke Magongo and other experts. 

Prevention and maternal health sessions cover such innovations as CAB-LA and lenacapavir PrEP for pregnant and lactating women (Friday Saidi) and broader triple elimination strategies (Pamela Gaspar). 

The programme emphasizes research, with oral abstract presentations and guided poster tours for interactive discussion with moderators. Pediatric and adolescent care sessions feature invited talks on long-acting ART (Mo Archery) and a range of topics, including pediatric cure, mental health and sexual/reproductive health (Philip Goulder; Pamela Collins; Carolyn Foster), alongside youth panels sharing perspectives on perinatal HIV and parenting. 

A highlight is a debate on whether lenacapavir PrEP will end the pediatric HIV epidemic, fostering discussion on the potential of long-acting PrEP to transform prevention. Other sessions address co-morbidities, including emerging perinatal infections (Marisa Mussi-Pinha). 

Overall, the workshop integrates cutting-edge research, interactive debates and mentoring opportunities, establishing a dynamic platform for advancing pediatric and adolescent HIV care globally. 

A fundamental pillar of the IpDH is the education and training of health professionals and students. With 29 years of experience organizing training activities, such as congresses, workshops, seminars and courses on HIV, it has achieved recognition in Bolivia as a benchmark for quality in educational events and is poised to lead a scientific event in Bolivia for training, discussion and reflection on sexual health. Therefore, in conjunction with the Platform of the Americas and the Caribbean of the Coalition Plus (PFAC) and the Cochabamba branch of the Bolivian Society of Public Health Medicine, the IpDH is organizing this event.  

Keynote presentations and panel discussions will focus on the following topics: 

• The situation and re-emergence of STIs in Bolivia and the impact of HPV 
• Innovation in diagnosis (molecular tests, self-tests and rapid diagnostics) 
• Resistance and treatment: Management of gonorrhoea and chlamydia in the face of antimicrobial resistance and the resurgence of syphilis  
• Combined HIV prevention: PrEP and PEP in the Bolivian context and regional challenges to achieving the U=U goal 

Expert speakers will present three related topics, with each presentation lasting 20 minutes. Following this, a roundtable discussion will be held, with questions from the audience. A moderator will facilitate each roundtable. 

The symposium will provide space for exchanging experiences and presenting clinical cases. Healthcare professionals or students who have submitted their scientific work will be able to present their work orally for 10 minutes each. After this, there will be time for questions, feedback and discussion. 

Written poster presentations will take place in a separate room throughout the two days of the event. Five to 10 selected works by healthcare professionals or students will be displayed according to established criteria.   

The academic meeting, “MUVIH: Structural challenges in care and the right to health in women living with HIV, organized by the Mexican Medical Association of HIV (AMMVIH), aims to address the complex and evolving needs of women affected by HIV. More than four decades into the epidemic, women continue to face significant structural, social and healthcare-related barriers that impact prevention, diagnosis, treatment and overall health outcomes. Gender inequality, stigma, violence and limited access to healthcare services remain key factors influencing their vulnerability. 

Although antiretroviral therapy has transformed HIV into a manageable chronic condition, women require comprehensive care that integrates clinical, reproductive, metabolic, cardiovascular and psychosocial dimensions across the life course. Despite this, women have historically been underrepresented in HIV clinical research, resulting in important gaps in scientific evidence regarding treatment safety and efficacy for this population. 

In response, this programme promotes an interdisciplinary and evidence-based approach to improving healthcare delivery. AMMVIH, an organization dedicated to medical education, research and strengthening HIV care in Mexico, has trained over 25,000 healthcare professionals and continues to foster scientific exchange and collaboration. 

The programme focuses on updating healthcare providers on key issues, including prevention strategies tailored to women, HIV management during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and current antiretroviral treatment recommendations. It also highlights the importance of identifying co-morbidities and complications, such as cardiovascular and metabolic conditions, as well as co-infections like human papillomavirus. 

Additionally, the programme emphasizes the need to address structural and intersectional vulnerabilities affecting women while promoting a human rights-based and person-centred approach. Targeted at a wide range of healthcare professionals, this initiative seeks to enhance knowledge, reduce stigma and ultimately improve the quality of care for women living with HIV.

The relationship between HIV and mental disorders is complex and often reciprocal, particularly among people living with HIV who may have undiagnosed mental health issues. To address these concerns, the AMMVIH launched the CUSAMVIH, a mental health and HIV course for healthcare professionals across Mexico, in 2024.  

The third edition of this two-day course will emphasize interdisciplinary approaches to managing psychiatric co-morbidities and the social determinants affecting people living with HIV. This year, the programme consists of two parts:  

• The first focuses on diagnosing and managing common mental health conditions, including affective disorders and HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment, while addressing structural barriers and the impact of stigma.  
• The second part covers advanced therapeutic management and integrated care strategies, emphasizing drug interactions between antiretroviral and psychiatric medications, psychosocial interventions and palliative care.  

Renowned speakers from various health fields will lead the course, aiming to enhance mental and physical health outcomes for people living with HIV throughout Mexico.

This interactive workshop will focus on integrating non-communicable disease (NCD) screening and management into routine HIV care to improve long-term outcomes for people living with HIV. 

The session will begin with a brief overview of the burden of NCDs among people living with HIV and the rationale for integrated service delivery, particularly in the context of an ageing HIV population and long-term antiretroviral therapy. A clinical expert will then present key updates on the identification and management of common NCDs, including hypertension, diabetes, mental health conditions and cervical cancer, as well as emerging challenges, such as weight gain associated with dolutegravir-based regimens. 

The workshop will include case-based learning sessions in which participants will analyse real-life scenarios of HIV-NCD co-management and discuss practical solutions to improve screening, diagnosis and continuity of care in HIV clinics. Facilitators will guide participants in using job aids, screening tools and simplified treatment algorithms to support integrated service delivery. 

The workshop will be facilitated by experienced clinicians and HIV programme implementers, with opportunities for participants to share experiences and best practices from their settings. 

The session will conclude with a plenary discussion and question-and-answer segment to consolidate learning and identify actionable steps for implementation. 

Given the advances in treatment of HIV and AIDS, it has become increasingly necessary to expand care beyond pharmacological controls and consider the physical, metabolic, emotional and social impacts of an HIV diagnosis. In this context, the Academic League of Sports Medicine of the Universidade São Judas Tadeu School of Medicine will organize a discussion-based event, using facilitated conversation circles, to explore physical exercise as a complementary therapeutic strategy in the care of people living with HIV. 

The proposal is to address bone, muscle and metabolic changes related to persistent inflammation and the effects of antiretroviral therapy, highlighting the role of physical activity in prevention, comprehensive care, health promotion and quality of life improvement. The conversation circles will be spaces for dialogue, listening, exchange of experiences and collective knowledge building. They will promote an accessible, scientific and humanized discussion on the relationship between HIV and AIDS, sports medicine and non-pharmacological supplementary therapy. 

In addition to being held at Universidade São Judas Tadeu, the initiative will be presented in the Global Village Youth Networking Zone at AIDS 2026, aiming to expand dialogue among young people, students, academic leagues, student centres, charitable institutions from Cubatão and representatives of municipal authorities. 

The proposal seeks to strengthen collaboration networks focused on prevention, social inclusion, multiprofessional care and health promotion, bringing together the academic community, social organizations and public managers around a relevant agenda for the contemporary response to HIV and AIDS. In this way, it intends to contribute to the appreciation of complementary, accessible and evidence-based strategies, recognizing physical exercise as an important tool for promoting autonomy, well-being and comprehensive care for people living with HIV. 

This event will showcase successful and high-impact community- or key population-led interventions that are making a difference in the Asia-Pacific and African regions, helping people with HIV lead normal lives and addressing TB-HIV co-infection. It will also showcase integrated responses for addressing other HIV-related co-infections and co-morbidities.  

We need to scale person-centred, rights-based and community-led solutions and keep in sight the 2030 targets of ending both AIDS and TB. We cannot shift the goalposts, but we can bridge the deadly divide between what we know works and what we do. It is time for accountability. 

Thanks to the science- and evidence-based and community-led proven tools and approaches we have today, no one should acquire HIV or die of AIDS-related illnesses. Undetectable equals untransmittable (U=U) must be a reality in the lives of all people living with HIV. No person living with HIV should acquire latent TB, develop active TB disease or suffer without standard treatment or die of a preventable disease like TB. 

The HIV pandemic has changed dramatically in the 20 years since the 2006 International AIDS Conference in Toronto and the launch of the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign. Yet grandmothers continue to play a vital role in their communities and families and in the HIV response. On the eve of the 2026 International AIDS Conference in Rio de Janeiro, join the Stephen Lewis Foundation as we look back at 20 years of international grandmothers’ solidarity and look forward to how the needs and priorities of older women and caregivers must shape the future of the HIV response. 

This event will feature two panel conversations and a video. Through the event, we will:  

• Celebrate the leadership, accomplishments, wisdom and advocacy strength of African grandmothers   
• Reflect on the groundbreaking approach to fundraising built by the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign in partnership with African community-led organizations and grandmothers   
• Centre the priorities of older women and caregivers in the lead up to AIDS 2026   
• Highlight the continued urgency of investing in community-led responses and recognizing the leadership of older women and caregivers in the global HIV response 

We are planning to invite two grandmothers from Canada who are members of the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign and three grandmothers from Africa who are involved in grandmothers mobilizing in their communities (our current invitees are from Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa). 

Join fellow Canadian delegates attending AIDS 2026 for a networking reception. This event provides an opportunity to connect with colleagues from across Canada who are engaged in HIV research, policy, healthcare and community leadership. This reception will provide a space to strengthen connections, exchange perspectives and foster new partnerships among Canadian delegates participating in the conference. 

Light refreshments will be served. 

This event is open to all AIDS 2026 delegates from Canada. Registration is required. 

The HIV epidemic is growing rapidly across the Pacific, with Fiji now experiencing one of the fastest-growing epidemics globally and Papua New Guinea declaring a national HIV crisis. New acquisitions have increased sharply in recent years, driven by injecting drug use, late diagnosis and ongoing barriers to testing and treatment. 

The Pacific HIV Symposium 2026 was established in direct response to this evolving situation. 

The symposium will convene regional health leaders, clinicians, nurses, policy makers and community organizations from across the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand to focus on practical, coordinated action. It will strengthen prevention, testing, treatment and care, with an emphasis on approaches that can be implemented in Pacific health systems. 

Rather than awareness raising, the meeting will concentrate on translating evidence into practice, supporting ministries of health and frontline services to respond more effectively to the current trajectory of the epidemic. 

The symposium will also provide a platform to address sexual and reproductive health, co-infections and other related conditions as part of an integrated regional response. 

This WHO global ECHO KVP webinar is organized by the Key and Vulnerable Populations team in the Department of Global HIV, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections Programmes.   

The webinar aims to provide an overview of WHO guidance on comprehensive services across HIV, TB, hepatitis and STIs, followed by presentations and reflections on global, regional and country evidence and perspectives on how to enhance key population-sensitive services within primary healthcare. It will also explore how evidence informs decision making across the different levels of service delivery, and discuss practical lessons to support the protection, adaptation, integration and sustainability of key population-sensitive services, including community-led and differentiated service delivery models. 

Speakers and moderators include Wole Ameyan and Clarice Pinto (WHO), Solomon Wuamba (KP Trans-National Collaboration), Cedric Nininahazwe (Global Network of People Living with HIV), Erick Mlanga (UNAIDS), Parinita Bhattacharjee (South-to-South Learning Network) and Ngauv Bora (Cambodia National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STD). 

Interpretation will be available in English, French and Portuguese.

On the occasion of AIDS 2026, the 26th International AIDS Conference, in Rio de Janeiro, Icict/Fiocruz invites all participants and other interested members of the public to visit and have a guided tour of the Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association’s (ABIA’s) archive collection dedicated to the documentation of HIV and AIDS for more than 20 years. It is located in Fiocruz's Library of Manguinhos (Biblioteca de Manguinhos, situated on the Fiocruz main campus). 

The collection has more than 15,000 catalogued items, including videotapes, DVDs, theses, dissertations, scientific papers, magazines and media clippings, with print and newspaper samples from the Brazilian press coverage of HIV- and AIDS-related themes in the 1980s and 1990s.  

Donated by ABIA, the collection is representative of the various institutional responses to the epidemic, including efforts by civil society, research institutions and the public sector to mobilize actions in healthcare, research and support of treatment and prevention. 

Scheduling of visits 

The guided tour welcomes researchers, students, professionals, activists and other interested members of the public. In addition to the collection, visitors can get to know more about Fiocruz and the library’s general activities in health information and communication, with one of the largest bibliographic collections in the country. 

The guided tours will be available in Portuguese and English. To accommodate the public, visits are by appointment only.

Available dates and times: 

• Thursday, 23 July, 10h00 or 14h00 
• Friday, 24 July: 10h00 

Further information: www.icict.fiocruz.br  

An Affiliated Independent Event is organized by individuals or organizations external to the IAS, takes place around the time of AIDS 2026, and focuses on HIV-related topics or issues affecting people living with and impacted by HIV.

Any individual, organization, network or institution can apply as long as the proposed event meets the eligibility criteria and addresses HIV-related themes.

To be eligible, events must take place between 1 May and 3 August 2026.

Events must address:

• HIV-related topics
• Issues affecting people living with HIV
• Challenges faced by communities affected by HIV
• Responses to the HIV pandemic

Events can be population specific, issue focused or interdisciplinary.

No. There is no cost to apply for Affiliated Independent Event status.

Approved events will:

• Be listed on the official AIDS 2026 website
• Be promoted through AIDS 2026 social media channels
• Gain visibility among the global IAS network and AIDS 2026 delegates

This helps amplify the reach and audience of your event.