(L-R) Norberto Lumbandali (SCALE SAIA-HTN Mozambique, Florence Ayebare (PULESA Uganda), Francois Venter (iHEART-SA South Africa), Chelsea Lipoto (PULESA Uganda), Edwin Gaone (InterCARE Botswana), and Dulce Filipe (SCALE SAIA-HTN Mozambique) at the INTEREST Conference.
Written by Florence Ayebare and Chelsea Lipoto (PULESA Uganda), edited by April Houston (RCC)
The PULESA Uganda team presented early work from their clinical trial at the 19th annual INTEREST Conference in Windhoek, Namibia.
PULESA representatives from the Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration Uganda (IDRC) discussed learnings from their work on health provider burnout, as well as insights from the qualitative evaluation of integrated hypertension and HIV services after six months of implementation.
The conference was dominated by discussions on the way forward for HIV research on the continent in light of US/Europe funding cuts, suspending many HIV vaccine trials and leaving the future of HIV prevention programs and research uncertain. Many speakers issued a call to action for all stakeholders to push for local funding solutions in their countries to ensure that progress and gains made in HIV research are not lost.
The conference provided an opportunity for early career researchers to network with experts in HIV programming and research in Africa. “A wealth of knowledge and research has been shared,” said Florence Ayebere, who presented a research poster at the event. “I attended discussions about the road to achieving the 95-95-95 targets in HIV treatment and prevention scale-up in Africa, dedicated sessions on HIV and co-morbidities, HIV and key populations, and more.”
INTEREST is Africa’s premier scientific conference, bringing together academics, researchers, and HIV experts from across the continent. The conference is attended by approximately 500 delegates representing 36 countries. HLB-SIMPLe Alliance team members from projects in Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa were also at this year’s event.
MORE PHOTOS:
Chelsea Lipoto at INTEREST 2025
Chelsea Lipoto (right in orange) from PULESA Uganda presents findings on ‘Effect of integrating Hypertension care into HIV Services: Healthcare Provider Burnout and well-being in Uganda.”
Florence presenting
Florence Ayebare (middle, in black) presents qualitative findings from “Evaluating integrated Hypertension and HIV Care: A 6-month qualitative study from the PULESA Uganda Trial” at INTEREST 2025.
Dulce at INTEREST
Dulce Filipe (SCALE SAIA-HTN Mozambique) stands in front of a poster she is presenting at INTEREST 2025.
Poster gathering
Attendees gather to hear the SCALE SAIA-HTN Mozambique team discuss their work at INTEREST.