CIGH joins World Health Organization Panel in Munich

CIGH Director, Dr. Charles Holmes, panel Moderator Andrew Seale, WHO, Switzerland, Florence Riako Anam, The Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), Kenya, Dr. Yogan Pillay, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, South Africa, Musa Manganye, Ministry of Health of South Africa, South Africa

CIGH Director, Dr. Charles Holmes joined an expert panel with WHO, Gates Foundation and civil society leaders at the July 2024 25th International AIDS Conference in Munich, Germany in a session entitled, “What’s new in WHO guidelines: sustainability, monitoring, disease control and elimination.”

Dr. Holmes was a contributor to the development of the 2024 WHO Policy Brief launched at the meeting, entitled “Supporting re-engagement in HIV treatment services.” Research conducted by Holmes and colleagues during his time as CIDRZ CEO was featured in the Policy Brief, including a study led by Dr. Izukanji Sikazwe examining the reasons clients stopped care or switched clinics, including a seminal article written with Dr. Peter Ehrenkranz establishing the concept of the “cyclical” cascade of care . During the panel, he noted the important role the new Policy Brief can play in “developing more responsive health systems” and called on health systems “to anticipate and support patients through periods of disengagement and re-engagement in care” in order to optimize public health outcomes.