TREAT Asia Charts Course for 2005 at Kunming Meeting

July 2005—Approximately 100 participants attended the fourth annual TREAT Asia network meeting in Kunming, China, 14-16 October, making it the largest annual meeting to date. The TREAT Asia network convenes each year to review the progress of TREAT Asia initiatives, disseminate results from the TREAT Asia HIV Observational Database, and evaluate research, training, and clinical objectives for the coming year.

The meeting was attended by principal investigators, clinical researchers, and technology support staff from TREAT Asia sites, as well as by community leaders and people living with HIV/AIDS. Representatives from several new sites in China—Zhengzhou (Henan province), Xi’an (Shaanxi province), and Shanghai—were also in attendance. Other organizations participating for the first time included USAID, UNAIDS China, Family Health International, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Yunnan, the Yunnan Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, the US CDC, and Bayer Diagnostics.

TREAT Asia’s four committees (science; education and training; public policy and advocacy; and communications and fundraising) held meetings to report on their work and to develop plans for the year ahead.

Presentations on a variety of topics relevant to HIV/AIDS treatment in the Asia/Pacific region included: low-cost CD4 and viral load testing; WHO’s HIV drug resistance monitoring and surveillance program; HIV/AIDS treatment and care in China; and the work of the International AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG). Reports were also delivered on the TREAT Asia HIV Drug Resistance Workshop and Community AIDS Treatment Advocates Leadership Council meeting, both of which had taken place prior to the network meeting.

Goals established for the next 12 months include the initiation of two research studies, one on hepatitis and HIV co-infection and the other on HIV drug resistance monitoring in the region.

TREAT Asia’s newly elected steering committee comprises the following members: Dr. Yi-Ming A. Chen (Taiwan), Dr. David Cooper (University of New South Wales), Dr. Rossana Ditangco (Philippines), Kevin Frost (amfAR), Greg Gray (APN+), Dr. Adeeba Kamarulzaman (Malaysia), Dr. Patrick Li (Hong Kong), Prof. Praphan Phanuphak (Thailand), and Dr. Jan Sabbat (GlaxoSmithKline).