The Central and Eastern European (CEE) Meeting on Viral Hepatitis and Co-infection with HIV is a two-day international conference that integrates keynote lectures and round table discussions with oral abstract and poster presentations. The meeting is developed by key opinion leaders as a scientific venue providing the opportunity to actively exchange research, medical and educational information on treatment of viral hepatitis and co-infection.
The first edition of the meeting took place in Warsaw, Poland, in June 2015 with participants from 24 countries, and the second edition was held in Bucharest, Romania, in October 2016, with participants from 31 countries. The third edition will be held in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 27-28 September 2017, and is an important go-to event for clinicians and researchers alike interested in topics related to viral hepatitis and co-infections.
The meeting will once again begin by offering brief 10-minute updates by keynote speakers from CEE countries, to provide a balanced description of the local situation in each country in terms of epidemiology of disease and the access to treatment. This first session has a very important role in highlighting the differences and identifying the common grounds between CEE countries, thus ensuring the basis for scientific exchange later on in the meeting.
Subsequent lectures will address the management of HBV and HCV infections throughout Europe, new testing strategies for HCV, with pointers on how to best achieve the WHO targets, clinical cases and a round table discussion on access to HCV treatment.
The second day of the conference will provide an analysis of special populations, with emphasis on people who inject drugs and special challenges in curbing the HIV epidemic in CEE countries. The meeting will go on to discuss the epidemiology, clinical presentation and management of HEV infection, and will then dive into a special session on future directions for antiretroviral treatment, presented from three different perspectives: virologists, clinicians, and pharmacologists.
Before concluding, the meeting will focus on future directions in diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, particularly highlighting challenges in hepatitis B vaccination and the access to innovative diagnostics for HIV, HBV and HCV.
This year’s meeting in Slovenia promises to be a highly interactive educational event, with a balanced content of clinical and research-driven sessions, providing access to current knowledge on treatment and practice in the area of viral hepatitis and co-infection with HIV.
