From 19 – 20 May, 2017 Inga Upmace, Chairman of the board of NGO “Baltic HIV Association”, attended 2. Baltic Internatinal Symposium “Management of TB/HIV co-infected patients:challenges and opportunities to End TB Strategy”. The aim of symposium – To introduce latest developments in management of TB/HIV co-infected patients.
The first International Baltic Symposium was organized in Riga in May 2016 to scale up the use of new drugs (ND) in safe and effective manner and improve treatment outcomes for multidrug-resistant, extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (M/XDR-TB) patients.
The second Baltic symposium is devoted to discuss, share experiences from countries, and to advocate at highest levels on using innovating technologies in diagnosis and treatment of dual M/XDR and Human immune deficiency virus (HIV) infection, including the use of ND for adults and children.
Among speakers were specialists of the field from several countries, including specialists from Latvia – dr. I.Azina, dr.A.Cirule and many others.
HIV associated TB and DR-TB remains a threat to public health despite the latest achievements. The burden of TB and HIV in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) remains high – in 2014 about 30 000 new HIV infections and 58 000 TB cases were reported.
