[Ip-health] Invitation: MSF Side Meeting at IUATLD Conference, Cancun, Mexico, 5th December, 2009: "Feasibility of Non-Sputum Based TB Tests for young children: “EYES WIDE SHUT ”?"

Tue Nov 24 13:13:17 2009

  Feasibility of Non-Sputum Based TB Tests for young children: “EYES WIDE
                                  SHUT”?

                  Médecins Sans Frontières ‘Side Meeting’
                       at IUATLD Conference, Cancun
               Saturday 5th December, 2009 17:00 – 19:00 pm
                  Cancun Center Conventions & Exhibitions
                          Room: Isla Mujeres 2+3

While  it  is  currently estimated that there are globally over one million
incident  cases  of  childhood tuberculosis (TB) yearly, the real extent of
childhood  TB  remains  unknown.   This is largely due to the fact that the
high inadequacy of current diagnostic tools causes clinicians to experience
major difficulties in establishing a definite diagnosis of TB in children.

This  meeting  will  briefly  describe  the  current  challenges  faced  in
paediatric TB diagnosis as well as potential routes towards the development
of  non-sputum  based  diagnostic  tools.  An expert panel will discuss the
potential initiatives to be undertaken in order to address the lack of gold
standard  assays  and  infant  TB  case definition, therefore enabling test
developers  to  expedite  the  development  of new tools that could undergo
evaluation studies in real clinical settings.

Opening address
Dr. Tido von Schoen-Angerer, MSF Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines

Part 1: The unmet needs in diagnosing childhood TB
Chair: Dr. Francis Varaine, MSF

Ø     Childhood TB: the size of the neglect
       Dr. Ben Marais, Stellenbosch University. South Africa

Ø     The challenge of diagnosing childhood TB in Resource-Limited Settings

      Dr. Doris Mesia, MSF

Part 2: Towards a non-sputum based test: promising tracks and challenges
       ahead
Chair: Dr. Madhukar Pai, McGill University, Canada.

Ø                 TB point-of-care expert meeting: children as one of the
                  highest priority medical needs
      Martina Casenghi, MSF Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines

Ø      There are some solutions - Existing science can be adapted to meet
                  field needs
      Dr. David Kelso, Center for Innovation in Global Health Technologies,
      Northwestern University, USA.

Part 3: How can the lack of gold standard be addressed?
Chair: Dr. Anneke Hessling, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Panel discussion:

      Panellists: - Dr. Ben Marais, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
                  - Dr. Luis Cuevas, TDR/WHO
                  - Dr. David Moore, London School of Hygiene and Tropical
            Medicin, UK
                  - Dr. Stephen M Graham, Centre for International Child
                  Health, Department of Paediatrics University of
                  Melbourne, Royal Children's Hospital, Australia

Views on Financial Commitments Needed and Meeting Conclusion
Dr. Tido von Schoen-Angerer, MSF’s Campaign for Access to Essential
Medicines

Kind regards,

Michelle Vilk
Coordination and Communications Assistant
Médecins Sans Frontières
Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines
Rue de Lausanne 78
1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: + 41(0) 22 849 89 02
Fax: + 41 (0) 22 849 84 04
michelle.vilk@geneva.msf.org

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