9:00am - 5:00pm [CEST]
6 April 2025 – 8 April 2025
Atlanta, Georgia
This Person-Centred Care Advocacy Academy will take place over two and a half days in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, in April 2025. The purpose of the academy is to support its fellows – advocates, activists and (community) healthcare providers – to understand the principles of person-centred service delivery approaches for HIV, learn how to assess HIV service delivery gaps in their settings, and enhance their HIV-related advocacy skills. The inaugural Person-Centred Care Advocacy Academy held in November 2024 in Lusaka, Zambia, welcomed 19 fellows from 12 African countries for interactive capacity-building activities and site visits at local health facilities.
The academy in Atlanta will consist of a series of interactive sessions with a faculty of academics and advocates dedicated to expanding the evidence and implementation of person-centred care approaches in the southern United States for people living with and affected by HIV. This academy will be jointly organized by IAS – the International AIDS Society – and southern US-based organizations, in partnership with Gilead Sciences.
Applications close on Wednesday 19 February 2025, 23:59 CET. Participants will be selected through a rigorous application process. Up to 15 fellowships are available to support participation costs for travel, accommodation and meals, including for non-licensed healthcare professionals.
Please note that licensed healthcare professionals are not eligible for fellowships to cover the direct financial costs of their participation in this event but are welcome to apply to attend the academy. If selected to attend, licensed healthcare professionals will be liable for any costs related to their participation in the event, including for meals, accommodation and travel.
The objectives are to:
- Provide training and skills building on current person-centred care approaches to service delivery and existing barriers to their implementation
- Disseminate information and tools related to person-centred care and highlight their importance to the wider community, including policy makers, the media and programme managers
- Create opportunities to interact with experienced researchers and advocates in the field
- Guide participants to identify service delivery gaps in their communities and develop action plans to overcome these challenges
To be eligible to participate, applicants must:
- Demonstrate involvement as an advocate, researcher or healthcare provider (including peer educators) in the HIV field for at least two years
- Be based in the southern United States and be affiliated with HIV associations, groups or communities operating in the southern United States
- Be interested in person-centred care approaches and be involved in existing initiatives
- Have sufficient proficiency in English
Participants will be selected based on their potential to disseminate the gained knowledge with other advocates, researchers, physicians, nurses, community healthcare providers and policy makers, among others, in their settings. We especially encourage the following applicants, particularly those from the intersections of the specified groups, to apply:
- Applicants from Black or Latinx communities
- Applicants engaged with community-based organizations working to support Black or Latinx communities facing intersectional stigma and vulnerability to HIV acquisition
- Applicants who identify as members of a key or affected population, including people living with HIV, gay men and other men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who use drugs, trans people and gender-diverse people vulnerable to HIV acquisition
- Youth applicants, categorized as individuals aged 35 and under
- Applicants engaged with community-based organizations working to support rural and remote communities
Applicants will be notified of their status within two months of the closure of the application window via email. Selected participants are expected to participate in the entire in-person academy programme and to prioritize attendance at all virtual sessions to be scheduled both before and after the in-person academy programme.
Please contact pcc@iasociety.org if you have any questions.
In partnership with:
The Person-Centred Care programme of IAS – the International AIDS Society – is implemented with financial support from, and in collaboration with, Gilead Sciences. The IAS has full control over all the activities and decisions relating to, and forming part of, the Person-Centred Care programme.