66 physicians from 9 countries trained in HIV Medicine through the Medical Education Program in Asia

HIV-NAT, with support from Gilead, organized a “Main Course” training session for physicians from 9 countries in the Asia Pacific region: Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam from 9-20 January 2012. Participants in the “Main Course” training session attended both “Update on HIV Medicine” training session and the 15th Bangkok International on HIV Medicine.

The “Update on HIV Medicine” (9-17 January 2012) consisted lectures from HIV experts on various topics such as treatment failure management, monitoring patients on antiretroviral therapy, and visits to departments and clinics in the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre and the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute.

Participants are key physicians who are actively involved in HIV care. The said physicians will also be assigned by the Ministry of Health in their home countries as future trainers. They are directly engaged and share their experience during case discussions. In addition, participants had opportunities to network with professionals and notable lecturers in their field. Ultimately, this will enable future collaboration and cross consultation.

On the last day of the “Update on HIV Medicine” session, 17 January, participants visited HIV-NAT’s research clinic, HIV-NAT’s Pharmacy Department and Research Laboratory, the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre’s Anonymous Clinic and the Wednesday friends’ club at the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre. Work processes of each unit and clinic were studied and experiences were with shared staff as a component of learning.

The physicians were also invited for a field visit to the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute, a hospital under the Ministry of Public Health that is renowned for its high standard of treatment and care for infectious diseases. They learnt about the history, mission and work of the Institute. The heads of the HIV ward and tuberculosis clinic at the Institute provided useful information on the working process and management of treatment and care in their unit.

The training was then followed by the world class 15th Bangkok International Symposium on HIV Medicine which took place from 18-20 January 2012. All participants from the “Update on HIV Medicine” training session attended the Bangkok International Symposium with support from Gilead.

“Update on HIV Medicine” is the second training session in the Medical Education Program, following the first training session on “Pediatric HIV”. The next training session on “Treatment failure & HIV drug resistance” will take place from 13-15 February, 2012

All regional training activities during the period of October 2011- September 2012 are made possible by an educational grant from Gilead Science.

HIV-NAT is proud to work toward the improvement of HIV care in Asia Pacific. We strongly believe that these trained healthcare providers will disseminate pertinent information and properly mentor colleagues in their respective home countries, and in turn will help support thousands of HIV-infected people.