Liver problems (abnormal LFTs, NASH, HBV/HCV, etc.)

This will be a case-based workshop and discuss

• HBV disease classification, management, end-stage liver disease, and risk of re-activation
• Investigations for abnormal liver enzymes, drug-induced liver injury and NAFLD/NASH in HIV-patients
• Recently acquired HCV in the context of HIV co-infection

Management of unsuppressed viraemia/resistance 

Although rates of viral suppression on antiretroviral therapy are high in many countries, some individuals may experience unsuppressed viraemia with the associated risk of development of resistance-associated mutations.  

This workshop will use clinical cases to demonstrate how you would assess patients experiencing virologic failure on their current antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimen. The cases will provide guidance on interpretation of resistance mutations and focus on data from clinical trials to assist treatment and management decisions.  

Reviewing papers 

Research is not perfect, and manuscripts that are submitted for publication may be plagued by methodological problems, may rely on inappropriate analysis or poor presentation of results, or suffer from misleading interpretations.  For this reason, manuscripts submitted to most clinical journals undergo a process of peer-review, where the submitted manuscript is critiqued by several independent experts in the field before a decision is made about whether or not to accept the paper for publication.  Whilst the peer-review process is often criticised, it does aim to ensure a minimum standard for published papers.  There are also benefits to reviewing, as it often helps people to write better manuscripts, allowing authors to structure their arguments more clearly.  In this workshop we will guide you through the review process, using examples from participants to give you tips on how to review papers, and suggesting materials that can help to support you in this endeavour. 

STIs and PrEP 

HIV prevention and STI screening are pivotal tools to help reduce new HIV infections and diagnoses. Knowledge of the following is essential to promote good sexual health in people living with or at risk of acquiring HIV 

• Expansion of HIV testing 
• Treatment as Prevention (TasP) 
• PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis)  
• Condom use 
• STI treatment for common and less common conditions 
• Circumcision 
• PEP/PEPSE (post-exposure prophylaxis) 

Through case based discussion this session aims 

• To promote, encourage and improve the diagnosis, treatment and management of sexually transmitted infections in people living with HIV; 
• To understand HIV prevention in those at risk of HIV acquisition.

Strategies to manage and prevent co-morbidities

This workshop will discuss clinical cases illustrating prevention, diagnosis, and management of HIV patients with different co-morbidities. Interactive discussions will allow to share experiences and provide practical recommendations to the participants.

Writing papers/abstracts 

Writing good manuscripts that will be accepted for publication or abstracts that will be accepted for conference presentation are skills that can be developed with a bit of practice and some guidance. Most published papers have a fairly similar structure, ensuring that readers know where in the manuscript they should look to find specific information. Journals also provide specific guidance for their own publications. Abstracts are similarly structured to ensure that key study findings are prominent.  In this workshop, using examples submitted by participants, we will look at the structure of manuscripts and abstracts, giving you tips on how to approach your writing, and suggesting materials that can help to support you in this endeavour.   

The description of the other workshops will follow shortly.