symposium: hiv drug resistance
HIV Drug Resistance and the Future of Antiretroviral Treatment in sub-Saharan Africa
February 6, 2013
Organized by AIGHD and AMC, Department of Global Health
Narrative
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Presentations
Scale-up of antiretroviral treatment in sub-Saharan Africa
Tobias Rinke de Wit
Emergence of transmitted HIV drug resistance in sub-Saharan Africa
Nicaise Ndembi
Pretreatment drug resistance and response to first-line antiretroviral treatment
Raph Hamers
Options after first-line therapy failure and accumulated drug resistance
Kim Sigaloff
ARV delivery in resource-poor settings and the risk of wide-scale resistance (waiting for authorization)
Silvia Bertagnolio
Affordable assays for viral load and drug resistance testing
Rob Schuurman
Treat 15 million by 2015? Prospects for antiretroviral treatment funding
Peter Mugyenyi
Future perspectives: controlling the HIV epidemic
Catherine Hankins
Trick or treat (HIV challenges from a donor perspective)
Ger Steenbergen
The objectives of the symposium
One of the biggest medical accomplishments of the beginning of this century has been the greatly expanded access to antiretroviral treatment for HIV-infected people living in sub-Saharan Africa. This has saved the lives and improved the well-being of millions of HIV-infected people. A potential downside of large-scale exposure to antiretroviral drugs is the emergence of HIV drug resistance, which has the potential to compromise treatment successes. This risk is increased by the weak health systems in many African countries, characterized by poor infrastructure, intermittent drug supply, and shortage of skilled staff.
In order to evaluate the extent of HIV drug resistance in Africa, the PharmAccess African Studies to Evaluate Resistance (PASER) network was established in 2006. PASER was initiated by a group of researchers at PharmAccess Foundation and the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health Development (AIGHD) and financially supported by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Aids Fonds and “De Grote Onderneming”. Since, nearly 4,000 HIV-infected adults and children at fifteen clinical sites in six countries - Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe – participated in observational patient studies.
The symposium was aimed at presenting and discussing recent insights into the epidemiology, diagnostic challenges, virological and clinical implications and public health strategies of HIV drug resistance in sub-Saharan Africa, covering the fields of biomedical science, clinical practice and public health. The most recent research PASER findings will be placed in a broader context of challenges ahead in the scale-up of HIV treatment resource-limited settings.
The symposium was organized on the occasion of the PhD defense of Kim Sigaloff and Raph Hamers at the University of Amsterdam.
Sponsors
The organizers are grateful for the contributions they have received
and thank the following sponsors for their support:
Gold level sponsor:
Other sponsors:
