The HIV Prevention Team at UNAIDS HQ provides strategic leadership and guidance on effective approaches to achieving the global HIV prevention targets towards the goal of Zero new infections. The team leads in developing and promoting strategies, policies, and programmatic approaches to the sustainable reduction in new HIV infections, generates and disseminates strategic information and program guidance, and champions the implementation of state-of- the-art behavioural, biomedical and structural prevention interventions linking strongly with universal testing and treatment, gender and human rights initiatives and programs. The team also establishes and strengthens partnerships and alliances to promote the HIV prevention agenda, principally through its function as the Secretariat of the Global HIV Prevention Coalition (GPC).
Before coming to UNAIDS Paula Munderi was Vice President for Programs with the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), mainly overseeing IAPAC’s support to urban HIV responses of several African cities within the Fast-Track Cities Initiative.
Prior to joining IAPAC Dr Munderi was based at the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe for 15 years where she led the establishment of a Program in HIV Care Research for the Medical Research Council, UK. She was principal investigator on several multinational studies including the DART trial which was the largest HIV treatment strategy trial conducted in Africa and the landmark START trial that paved the way for our present-day policy early treatment for asymptomatic HIV infected persons in the interest of their individual health. Dr Munderi was also a lead investigator for the East African Chronic Disease research project, a health systems study addressing the combined primary care of chronic diseases and HIV in peripheral health centres in Uganda and Tanzania.
Dr Munderi also served for 4 years as technical officer in the departments of HIV and Essential Medicines Policy at the World Health Organisation in Geneva and was a member of faculty in the Department of Medicine of Makerere University Medical School in Kampala.
Dr Munderi has earned recognition among African leaders in the public health response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and contributed to scientific and technical advisory bodies on HIV policy, HIV research and HIV programming such as:
- Uganda Ministry of Health, National Antiretroviral Treatment & Clinical Care Committee
- Uganda Ministry of Health Technical Working Group on Surveillance of HIV Drug Resistance
- WHO Technical Working Group: Guidelines for ART in Resource Limited Settings
- Action Cordonnée, ANRS France Recherche Nord & Sud SIDA-HIV Hepatites
- External Reviewer, Swiss National Science Foundation (current)
- External Advisory Group, ICAP (Columbia University) PHIA Surveys
- Advisory Board, International AIDS Society: “Towards an HIV Cure” Global Scientific Strategy
- Global Expert Consensus Panel on Science of HIV in the Context of the Criminal Law
- HIV Expert, Technical Review Panel, The Global Fund
Dr Munderi graduated in Medicine from Makerere University. Following clinical experience and training in Uganda and in Kenya, she gained admission to the Royal College of Physicians of the UK in 1994 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Edin) in 2011.
