KAMPALA – The International Conference on HIV Treatment, Pathogenesis, and Prevention Research in Resource-Limited Settings (INTEREST) is back in Kampala, Uganda after 16 years.
This year’s conference will be a hybrid meeting in Kampala, Uganda from the 10th -13th May 2022 at Speke Resort, Munyonyo. This is the first hybrid INTEREST conference. Since its inception in 2007, INTEREST has evolved into a leading HIV scientific conference with meetings taking place in different locations in sub-Saharan Africa namely; Senegal (2008, 2013), Zambia (2009, 2014), Kenya, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Malawi, Rwanda, Ghana and virtually during Covid.
The annual INTEREST Conference is the premier scientific conference for HIV in Africa. The conference provides a platform to exchange pivotal findings, promote collaboration, and share experiences. It also provides young researchers with a unique opportunity to present their work, attend mentoring sessions with senior scientists, and network with their peers.
“The driving force behind INTEREST is to encouraging young scientists in the Africa region to become bold and advance their scientific career. We have a lot of young people and when I come to these meetings and see them, it makes me very happy – without the youth taking on research, we are done”, said Dr. Elly Katabira, Professor of Medicine in the School of Medicine, Makerere University College of Health Sciences.
INTEREST 2022 in Uganda is a return of INTEREST to its birthplace.
The Conference will showcase state-of-the art presentations by African and international scientists and clinicians on HIV prevention technologies, HIV and mRNA vaccines, long-acting agents for HIV prevention and treatment and access to COVID 19 drugs, elimination of mother to child transmission and innovative HIV testing approaches. Topics of HIV in children and adolescents, HIV and comorbidities, orphans and vulnerable and key population programming will also be discussed.
There will be strong engagement and participation of young investigators. The entire meeting is held in plenary, offering an interactive setting that fosters the exchange of ideas. The Conference cultivates new research interactions among senior investigators and those who represent the potential future scientific leadership for health care and research on the African continent.
There are about 550 participants from 46countries participating in INTEREST 2022.
The Local Organising Committee (LOC) for this year’s INTEREST is chaired by Dr. Andrew Kambugu, the Sande McKinnell Executive Director of the Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere University and Dr Sabrina Bakeera-Kitaka, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Paediatrics and Child health at the Makerere University, College of Health Sciences.
The meeting is co-organized by the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development and Virology Education in the Netherlands.
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