Unitaid actively supports the HIV community as a vital component of its grants.This satellite will present some of the work associated with Unitaid-funded antiretroviral therapy (ART) optimisation trials and associated projects. Activists, researchers and policy-makers will describe how the community has: Supported clinical trials with recruitment and patient information responded to emerging data associated with current priority antiretrovirals, such as the signal for elevated prevalence of neural tube defects and risk of weight gain and metabolic disorders. Trained activists in treatment literacy and advocacy. Key partners include: AfroCAB; CHAI; Ezintsha, Wits RHI; HIV i-Base; and WHO

As PEPFAR continues to confront the challenges of assuring retention on life-long ART in patients, collaboration with communities, local independent civil society organizations and patients is urgent and critical. This collaboration helps PEPFAR programs and health institutions diagnose and pinpoint persistent problems, and identify both barriers and enablers of effective service and client outcomes at the facility level. Dr. Angeli Achrekar will discuss PEPFAR’s community-led monitoring approach, and community organizations will present on emerging best practices to gather routine quantitative and qualitative data about the quality of HIV services at health facilities, with a focus on getting input directly from recipients of HIV services to then improve the quality of services.