25–27 February 2026 | Misty Hills Country Hotel & Conference Centre, Muldersdrift, Gauteng (South Africa)

CPEMPH (University of Johannesburg and Durham University), together with partners including UNICEF and South African academic collaborators, is hosting a regional conference focused on emerging challenges and opportunities in evidence-informed public health, with particular attention to HIV management in sub-Saharan Africa. This conference is part of CPEMPH’s British Academy funded project Integrating Evidence for Contextualised Public Health Policy: Lessons From South Africa.

Focus

The conference convenes policymakers, practitioners, civil society, and researchers to discuss:

• Integrating new evidence into context-sensitive public health policy, including mathematical modelling, social listening reports, and other novel evidence streams
• Sustaining and adapting HIV programmes amid changing global funding and coordination conditions

The programme includes keynotes, thematic sessions, a UNICEF-led session, and structured roundtables culminating in the adoption of a Misty Hills Statement on context-sensitive policy.

Programme

Download the full programme here

Highlights include:

• Keynote 1: Dr Thembisile Xulu (CEO, South African National AIDS Council)
• Keynote 2: Prof Elisabetta Lalumera (University of Bologna)
• UNICEF session: UNICEF’s HIV work and plans
• Roundtable: Integrating context-sensitive evidence into HIV policy (post USAID)

Queries

For conference queries, please contact Benjamin Smart (bsmart AT uj.ac.za) or Alex Broadbent (alex.broadbent AT durham.ac.uk)

Hosted by: University of Johannesburg – CPEMPH; University of Durham – CPEMPH & CHESS; University of Stellenbosch – Africa Centre for Inclusive Health Management; University of the Free State – Interdisciplinary Centre for Digital Futures; UNICEF.