Elimination of vertical transmission (EVT) as a platform for improved health for women and children

Carmen (M.Pharma, MsC Virology LSHTM, FRCP Edin)  is Senior Strategy Lead and Head of Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response at Unitaid. In her position, she identifies and supports interventions to surmount access barriers to the best options for treatment, diagnosis, or prevention of major diseases affecting low and middle-income countries. A focus of her work is currently on HIV/coinfections, pandemics, and new technologies such as long-acting tools and monoclonal antibodies.

Carmen has spent most of her career in global health, working with NGOs, mainly Médecins Sans Frontières, and supporting Global Fund programmes as Senior Global Health Officer before joining Unitaid.

https://publicationslist.org/perezcasasc  

  

                                                                                                        

Mariana Iacono is an ICW Global leader defending the rights of women with HIV. She contributed to WHO breastfeeding guidelines and coordinates support networks for mental health. Her work focuses on reproductive autonomy, combating institutional violence, and empowering peers worldwide.

She is a co-founder of several organizations focused on youth and the rights of people living with HIV, such as the Argentine Network of Positive Youth and Adolescents (RAJAP), RAP+30, and the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Positive Youth and Adolescents (J+LAC), where she has managed communication and political advocacy strategies. She has also coordinated the national representation of the International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW Argentina).

She has participated as an international consultant for agencies such as UNAIDS, PAHO, UNDP, and UNICEF. Her academic and activist work focuses on feminism, sexual and reproductive rights, the eradication of stigma, and the autonomy of women living with HIV.

Her work includes writing for various media outlets and participating in audiovisual and artistic projects with a gender and human rights perspective, addressing issues of sexuality, pleasure, and visibility.