December 1 has been designated the World AIDS Day. GSK/ViiV Healthcare, in collaboration with Prof. José Gatell of Barcelona and Prof. Jürgen Rockstroh of Bonn, organized a symposium for the Czech and international professional public dedicated to the latest trends in HIV treatment. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the meeting took place online this November and participants included leading specialists from Germany, Spain, Poland, Austria and the Czech Republic. The topics included HIV treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of COVID-19 on the health of HIV-positive patients.
This year, the international meeting took place in the form of an online webinar on November 19, 2020. The event follows last year’s meeting that took place as part of the 6th World AIDS Day symposium in Plzeň. The discussion attracted leading specialists of global standing including Prof. José Gatell, an Honorary Professor at the University of Barcelona, guarantor of the seminar and former EACS (European AIDS Clinical Society) President; Prof. Jürgen Rockstroh, current EACS President; Prof. Milosz Parczewski of the Pomeranian Medical University in Stetin; and Michal Skoll of the Medical University in Vienna.
“Czech HIV experts are among the European leaders in the field of HIV, thus Czech HIV-positive patients can potentially have a comparable quality and life expectancy to the healthy population too. A properly treated HIV patient may not even be infectious to his/her partner. Knowing the diagnosis in time is crucial,” says Prof. José Gatell, the guarantor of the international symposium.
Czech speakers at the seminar included Associated Prof. Dalibor Sedláček, M.D., chief physician at the Clinic of Infectious Diseases and Travel Medicine and head of the HIV Centre of the Teaching Hospital in Plzeň; David Jilich, M.D., deputy head of the HIV Centre of the Clinic of Infectious, Parasitical and Tropical Diseases of the Na Bulovce Hospital; Milan Zlámal, M.D., head of the HIV Centre of the Military University Hospital and deputy chief physician for health services of its Clinic of Infectious Diseases; and Lukáš Fleischhans, M.D., resident of the HIV Centre of the Clinic of Infectious, Parasitical and Tropical Diseases of the Na Bulovce Hospital.
“I am delighted that, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we could again offer to Czech specialists a space for discussion with their leading international peers. This year, the virtual seminar welcomed experts from five European countries who shared the latest findings and experiences on HIV treatment, an area of research that our company significantly contributes to on the global scale,” says Neil McDonald, General Manager of GSK Czech Republic.
GSK/ViiV Healthcare, through its partnership with Czech and foreign experts, has created an international platform for regular professional discussion on and sharing of topics related to HIV treatment.