For two days in Wellington in August 2018, researchers,
clinicians, practitioners and policy makers will gather for a
conference focused on tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a cause of high health burden
worldwide. TB is ranked as one of the top 10 contributors to
mortality worldwide - in 2015, 1.8 million deaths were due to TB.
Over 1200 new cases occur in Australia and 300 in New Zealand
annually.
We are also in a time of change in TB: increasing frequency of
multidrug resistance, greater migration from countries with high TB
burden, new diagnostic techniques, treatments, and tools for
understanding TB epidemiology all create an imperative for building
capacity and enhancing skills among the TB control healthcare
workforce.
The 2018 Australasian Tuberculosis Conference is therefore
timely. We expect to receive registration from approximately 200
delegates, primarily from New Zealand and Australia, who will join
together to debate and discuss new areas of TB science, learn new
techniques and practices, and develop networks to better improve
and coordinate TB management across the region.
We expect that the conference will appeal to professionals
involved in all aspects of tuberculosis management: clinical care
(investigation, diagnosis, treatment); occupational health;
infection control; public health; policy and guideline development;
immigration; laboratory science and research.
Conference themes
- TB elimination in low burden countries.
- The dawn of the Whole Genome Sequencing era and application to
TB diagnosis and control.
- TB and migration.
- Drug resistance and TB - diagnosis, management, epidemiology
and future projections.
- TB vaccine development.
- Latent tuberculosis infection testing, diagnosis and
treatment.
- Tuberculosis and diabetes.
Confirmed speaker
Dr Timothy Walker, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford
will be speaking on application of whole genome sequencing to
tuberculosis control.
Dates and venue
The Australasian Tuberculosis Conference 2018 will be held from
Thursday 30 August to Friday 31 August 2018 at the Te Papa Museum,
Wellington, New Zealand. The museum is within walking distance from
major hotels.
Contact details
This conference is facilitated by Regional Public Health, Hutt
Valley District Health Board, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
Phone: 04 570 9002 (Reception)
Email: RPH@huttvalleydhb.org.nz
Go to www.tbconference.org to register your
interest.
This is a great opportunity to share your knowledge. We will be
calling for abstracts early in the new year.