Jauhara Nanyondo

Jauhara has worked in the public health field for more than fifteen years, with a specific focus on biomedical prevention research. She has recently joined IAVI as the Associate Director for community engagement, and she spent the past decade at Makerere University Walter Reed Project (MUWRP), where she led their community outreach efforts.

Fellowship Focus
Jauhara developed an HIV prevention research training guide for the media in Uganda to help streamline content and scope. Her training guide filled an important gap, since at the time of her Fellowship—although there had been efforts to build media capacity to report effectively on new HIV prevention research—the content and scope of such workshops was limited.

In Their Own Words
Although we haven’t developed a safe and effective vaccine yet, we have come a long way in the past decade regarding HIV prevention and treatment options, with PrEP now available in many countries and microbicides possibly on the horizon. We’ve also had many breakthrough advances in vaccine research–including the RV144 result–that give us hope. We must keep at it, and every stakeholder must play their part.

Kenneth Mwehonge

Kenneth is currently implementing a new social accountability model that pairs a community scorecard with PEPFAR Site Improvement Monitoring Systems (SIMS) to strengthen the community/civil society accountability of PEPFAR programs in Uganda. He also coordinates CSO engagement with PEPFAR at the country level and oversees the implementation of community-led monitoring in Uganda. At the time of his project, he had more than six years’ experience in health promotion and advocacy. He has worked with both grassroots communities and national level stakeholders in promoting health and the rights of people living with HIV in Uganda by advocating for consumer-friendly policies.

Fellowship Focus
Kenneth’s project focused on promoting universal access to viral load monitoring services in Uganda. He established a national viral load monitoring advocacy group through the Uganda Coalition for Access to Essential Medicines, which contributed to creating overwhelming demand for the services. He also set up a community network of champions for monitoring a quality viral load services campaign and informed and shaped Uganda’s viral load rollout plan to set ambitious targets and succeeded in getting PEPFAR, the Global Fund and other stakeholders to commit more financial resources to the program.

In Their Own Words
More than ever, there is growing evidence that an HIV cure is possible. The AIDS response has come a long way, from a death sentence to now a manageable and preventable disease. Despite the availability of HIV treatment and prevention tools, we continue to lose one million lives annually due to lack of access, poor adherence and sporadic stock-outs of lifelong treatment in many parts of the world. To me, an HIV cure is the magic bullet to the zero death target, and this is my greatest inspiration.

My Work as a Fellow

  • Fact sheet on viral load testing: Kenneth developed this basic fact sheet for civil society and other stakeholders to use in their advocacy/work on viral load testing.
  • World AIDS Day statement: Kenneth worked with other civil society partners to write a statement on World AIDS Day 2015 calling for fast tracking of rollout of viral load monitoring in Uganda.
  • Policy brief: Policy makers are key for all advocacy initiatives, and Kenneth developed this “Policy brief on viral load monitoring in Uganda” specifically targeted at Uganda’s policy makers.
  • AIDS2016 Abstract: Kenneth’s advocacy on viral load monitoring in Uganda got highlighted when an abstract about it was accepted for presentation at the 2016 IAS Conference in Durban.
  • Fellowship summary report: “Increasing universal access to viral load testing for HIV treatment monitoring” is the final report that summarizes Kenneth’s Fellowship experience and activities.

Materials

Lydia Mulwanyi-Mukombe

Lydia currently works at UNFPA as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Uganda office. She has a wealth of experience in community health-related program planning and implementation, participatory monitoring and evaluation. At the time of her project, she had more than seven years’ experience working in non-governmental organizations and in partnership with regional and international agencies focused on adolescent sexual reproductive health, health rights awareness and advocacy and community engagement in health and research. Her advocacy experiences have been directed toward universal access to HIV treatment, increased funding for reproductive health supplies and the promotion and protection of the right to health in Uganda.

Fellowship Focus
Lydia documented an understanding of what prevention trial results mean for women—from tenofovir gel to hormonal contraceptive impact on HIV risk—and used that evidence to influence research and policy in Uganda and beyond. One of Lydia’s accomplishments was convening key consultative meetings of women from across Africa to deliberate on the issue of hormonal contraception and HIV risk. These convenings influenced the decision to conduct the ECHO trial and also influenced the conduct of the trial and post-trial decisions related to increasing method mix of HIV prevention, treatment and contraception for women.

In Their Own Words
The ECHO trial results were critical, for they pointed to the need for governments to provide contraceptive method mix for women, promote informed choice of contraceptive options and strengthen integration of contraceptive and HIV prevention services.

Alice Kayongo

Alice is the Regional Policy and Advocacy Manager at AHF where she is involved in health policy and advocacy work in Lesotho, Malawi and East and West Africa broadly. She also leads a team of volunteers within a not-for-profit initiative called “We Rise and Prosper” (WRAP) with the aim of contributing toward poverty reduction, improved health outcomes and fairness in society. Alice is an activist and an active participant in the health, women’s and children’s rights civil society movement and development sector in Uganda and internationally. She is part of many successful social movements and coalitions in Uganda. At the time of her Fellowship, Alice was finalizing a campaign on “What’s preventing prevention of HIV/AIDS in Uganda?”.

Fellowship Focus
Alice’s objective was to influence policy on Treatment as Prevention. She led efforts to adopt a national treatment program based on universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment and education, to increase health funding for HIV/AIDS and intensify the fight against corruption, to attract and retain health workers evenly in all parts of the country and to implement a combination of interventions for HIV prevention such as VMMC, Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission and PrEP. Her coalition-building work solidified civil society’s role in influencing the allocation of hundreds of millions of dollars through PEPFAR’s Country Operational Plans and the Global Fund in Uganda and globally.

In Their Own Words
With greater political and financial support, the Treatment as Prevention approach can make a big difference.

MTN 015

IPM 027/ The Ring Study

IPM 032 (DREAM)

MTN 020 (ASPIRE)

MTN 016 (EMBRACE)

IAVI B004