Meetings and Events

TB/HIV at CROI 2008

15th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections

TB/HIV in the HIV implementers' meeting

Over 1500 people from around the world who work to put HIV prevention, treatment, care and support programmes into action, met at the HIV Implementers' Meeting, in Kigali, Rwanda from June 16-19. The Secretariat of the TB/HIV Working Group was instrumental in organizing the TB/HIV sessions of the meeting which contained abstract and non-abstract driven sessions. The plenary speech by Dr Chakaya Muhwa of Kenya emphasized the importance of strengthening basic TB control services for optimal HIV and AIDS care and called for TB and HIV programmes to work together. He shared the exemplary experience of Kenya in their nationwide scale-up of collaborative TB/HIV activities. Haiti, Kenya, Uganda and Indonesia also shared their experiences and best practices in providing integrated TB and HIV services. The importance of TB infection control in HIV care settings particularly in the context of XDR-TB and laboratory strengthening to expedite the diagnosis of TB in PLHIV were emphasized. Please click here to see the presentations made at Kigali link and read the report written by members of the Core Group.

Kigali also hosted the follow up to the March Accelerating the Implementation of Collaborative TB/HIV Activities meeting in Washington D.C. The meeting in Kigali was organized by OGAC (the U.S Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator) and WHO on behalf of the TB/HIV Working Group of the Stop TB Partnership. Participants shared experiences of nationwide scale-up of collaborative TB/HIV activities. The meeting brought together more than 80 participants from 22 countries. Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Zambia (who attended the March meeting) presented their draft plans for discussion. Round tables identified critical action points for nationwide scale-up of collaborative TB/HIV activities. Click here for documents from the Kigali Experience Sharing and Follow-up Meeting June 20 2007.

HIV/TB sessions at IAS 2007 in Sydney

The TB/HIV Working Group Secretariat of the Stop TB Partnership has organised a satellite symposium in conjunction with the 4th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, treatment and prevention in collaboration with Forum for Collaborative HIV Research in collaboration with Agence nationale de recherches sur le sida (ANRS), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Consortium to Respond Effectively to the AIDS/TB Epidemic (CREATE), the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership Programme (EDCTP) International AIDS Society, National Institutes of Health and Tibotec. The satellite symposium will be held on Sunday July 22, 2007 at 12:30-14:30 in Hall B. The goals of this satellite symposium are to 1) increase awareness of and interest in, the urgent need to include TB diagnosis, prevention and treatment issues into the HIV clinical research arena and 2) discuss with programs and sponsors opportunities for increased focus on HIV-TB coinfection and examples of supportive and facilitating programs they may offer. The panel discussant in this satellite symposium include Michel Kazatchkine (Executive Director of the Global Fund for AIDS,TB and Malaria), Michel Sidibe (Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS), Debrework Zewdie (Director, Global AIDS Programme, World Bank) and Kevin DeCock (Director of HIV/AIDS Department, WHO). See the agenda and the roadmap of TB/HIV activities in the conference.

Urgent Call For New TB Research

From the International AIDS Society Daily Bulletin report July 23, 2007. Full Bulletin available at: http://www.ias2007.org/admin/images/upload/858.pdf

Sydney, Australia -- Tuberculosis (TB) kills approximately two million people every year, and is the leading cause of death among people with HIV. Each illness builds on the devastation caused by the other, with the most extreme effects seen in the regions least equipped to cope, according to participants in a satellite sponsored by the TB/HIV Working Group of the Stop TB Partnership. Underscoring the urgent need for better diagnosis, Renee Ridzon of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation observed, "It’s not a question if people in Africa will get TB but when."

Sunday’s satellite, entitled HIV/TB Co-Infection: Meeting the Challenge, was convened to discuss critical gaps in research on the intersection of the two pandemics, made even more urgent by the recent emergence of extensively drug resistant TB (XDR-TB). Organizers are hopeful that major HIV funders will help fill these gaps, given the deadly implications of TB for people living with HIV. According to Michel Sidibe, Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS, who was a participant in the meeting, an estimated $2 billion would be needed annually to make a quick and major difference.

An oral abstract session on July 23, (MOAB1,11:00, Bayside Auditorium B) will feature five oral abstract presentations on the topic of HIV/TB co-infection.