BUSINESS WIRE; Friday, April 17, 1998
Unlike other international meetings, this workshop will focus on practical and affordable actions for developing nations, says Margaret Chesney, PhD, conference co-chair and co-director of the UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies.
"Our goal is to make something happen. We plan to go beyond the public health perspective and to develop workable interventions that can be carried out," Chesney emphasized. "This workshop will be an active international collaboration to raise consciousness, establish partnerships between countries, and develop an agenda for action."
Titled the "Fogarty Workshop on International HIV/AIDS Prevention Research Opportunities," the event is co-hosted by the UCSF AIDS Research Institute (ARI) and the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health. It is scheduled for April 17-20 at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero, 5 Embarcadero Center in San Francisco.
More than 200 physicians, scientists, behavioral specialists, and public health officials from throughout the world will attend. Countries represented include the People's Republic of China, India, Uganda, Thailand, and Zimbabwe, among others.
The program agenda is designed to review current experience and to make recommendations with respect to the conduct and coordination of high priority international HIV/AIDS prevention research where the results have application to the developing world, says Thomas J. Coates, PhD, conference co-chair and director of the UCSF ARI. The emphasis will be on prevention research that combines biomedical, behavioral, and social interventions.
In order to carry out its charge, the workshop will center around small discussion groups that focus on fictitious "model" countries with real-world problems. Participants will examine HIV/AIDS issues and programs in relation to these models and make recommendations for action.
"This workshop will differ from previous meetings in that it will integrate in a very practical way the most recent results from HIV prevention science with practical issues and ongoing research in specific countries in an effort to identify the next best opportunities for new interventions and operational research," said Steve Morin, conference co-chair and director of the AIDS Policy Research Center, ARI.
The primary but not exclusive focus of the program will be on prevention of HIV by sexual transmission, vertical transmission, and transmission by injection drug use -- particularly utilizing combined psychosocial and biological interventions that can be carried out at the individual, community, or societal level. Examples include sustained behavior change, microbiocides and condoms, social marketing, STD treatment and prevention, and policy interventions.
The worldwide numbers of HIV/AIDS cases underscore the importance of the workshop.
According to Chesney, the global cumulative number of HIV infections among adults has more than doubled since the beginning of the decade, from about 10 million in 1990 to almost 25.5 million by mid-1996.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, HIV has disproportionately devastated the developing world. In 1996, 93 percent of the infections were in these regions. Specifically, the largest numbers of individuals ever infected with HIV were in sub-Saharan Africa, totaling 19 million (68 percent of the global total) and in South and Southeast Asia, totaling 5 million (18 percent of the global total).
The number of HIV-infected people in South and Southeast Asia alone is now more than twice the total number of infected people in the entire industrialized world.
HIV continues to spread at an alarming rate. In 1995, 2.7 million new HIV infections occurred in adults worldwide. The industrialized world accounted for only 2 percent (55,000 new HIV infections) of this global total.
The outcome of the workshop will be made available to educational institutions, health authorities, foundations, and non-governmental organizations in both developed and developing countries. The findings also will be placed on the World Wide Web (http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu) with an opportunity to receive widespread feedback from the global HIV/AIDS community.
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Media are invited to cover the full workshop or individual sessions. Contact Corinna Kaarlela in the UCSF News Services Office at 415/476-2557. The workshop will conclude on Monday, April 20, with a news conference announcing major recommendations for HIV prevention in the developing world.
FRIDAY, APRIL 17
7:30 p.m. Keynote Address: "The Global Challenge: The Importance of International Prevention Research" -- Helene Gayle, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
SATURDAY, APRIL 18
9:00 a.m. Plenary Session: "Preventing HIV Infection and Disease Progression: Viral and Host Factors" -- N.K. Ganguly, India, chair; Jay Levy, MD, UCSF
9:45 a.m. Panel: "Epidemiology: Defining the Challenges" -- Yiming Shao, People's Republic of China, chair; Michael Merson, Yale University; and Geeta-Rao Gupta, International Center for Research on Women
11:00 a.m. "Charge to Country-Level Planning Groups" -- Margaret Chesney, PhD, UCSF, and Michael Merson, Yale University
11:15 a.m. Model Country-Specific Planning Group Meetings
12:15 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. "Issues in Preventing Sexual Transmission: Biomedical Approaches" -- Souleymane MBoup, Senegal, chair; King Holmes, University of Washington; and Jorge Sanchez, National STD and HIV Control Program, Peru
2:15 p.m. Panel: "Issues in Preventing Vertical Transmission" -- Art Ammann, AmFAR, chair; Diane Wara, MD, UCSF; and Suporn Koetsawang, Thailand
3:15 p.m. Model Country-Specific Planning Group Meetings
SUNDAY, APRIL 19
9:00 a.m. Panel: "Issues in Preventing Sexual Transmission: Behavioral Interventions" -- Willo Pequegnat, National Institutes of Mental Health, chair; Thomas J. Coates, PhD, UCSF; and Awa Marie Coll-Seck, UNAIDS
9:45 a.m. Panel: "Policy and Social Marketing Interventions in Prevention" -- Steve Morin, UCSF, chair; Bill Smith, Academy for Educational Development; and David Stanton, USAID
10:45 a.m. Model Country-Specific Planning Group Meetings
12:15 p.m. Lunch
1:30 p.m. Panel: "Issues in Preventing Transmission Through Injection Drug Use" -- Nick Crofts, Australia, chair; Don Des Jarlais, Beth Israel Hospital, New York; and Andrew Ball, World Health Organization
2:15 p.m. Panel: "Ethical Issues in International Prevention Research" -- Gloria Sangiwa, Tanzania, chair; Edward Mbidde, Makerere University, Uganda; and Bernard Lo, MD, UCSF
3:15 p.m. Model Country-Specific Planning Group Meetings
MONDAY, APRIL 20
9:00 a.m. Reports from Planning Groups -- Margaret Chesney, PhD, UCSF, and Lee Goldman, MD, UCSF, co-chairs
10:45 a.m. Panel Response: "Summary and Recommendations" -- Thomas J. Coates, PhD, UCSF, chair; Judy Auerbach, NIH; Victor Barnes, CDC; David Stanton, USAID; and Werasit Sittitrai, UNAIDS
11:45 a.m. Concluding Remarks -- Margaret Chesney, PhD, UCSF, and Ken Bridbord, National Institutes of Health
12:30 p.m. News Conference -- Announcement of major recommendations or HIV prevention in the developing world.
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CONTACT: UCSF News Services Corinna Kaarlela, 415/476-3804 corinna@itsa.ucsf.edu
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