Press release - Advances in HIV biomedical prevention research: why involving the Community is key

The session is organised by EATG, within the framework of the EU funded CHAARM project - Combined Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Microbicides, and will be chaired by Jur Strobos, from the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research.

The satellite will focus on the ways affected communities can be involved in the design, promotion and implementation of studies of new prevention methods.

The importance of this has been illustrated by the premature closure of some prevention trials owing to the lack of Community backing and investment in the trial. Equally, the successful conclusion of a number of other recent prevention trials can be attributed partly to Community involvement being an essential part of the design and the conduct of the trial.

Key researchers will present how consultation and involvement with the proposed study population is an essential part of trial design, looking at successful models of Community involvement and discussing the way Community consultation is being incorporated into forthcoming and proposed prevention trials.

• Confirmed speakers and panellists are:

Charles Kelly - King’s College London (KCL), coordinator of the EU funded project CHAARM;

Charles Lacey - Hull York Medical School (HYMS,);

François Berdougo - TrT-5 (Groupe Interassociatif Traitement & Recherche Thérapeutique)

Christiana Noestlinger - Antwerp Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM HIV/AIDS Center)

Gus Cairns - NAM/EATG

David Haerry - EATG

• What: Satellite session, 90 minutes
• When: Wednesday 12 October from 9.30 to 11.00 am
• Where: During EACS conference in Belgrade, Serbia, October 12-15, 2011
• Room: Hall 1
• Organiser: EATG, European AIDS Treatment Group (within the framework of CHAARM project)
• Chair: Jur Strobos, from the Forum for Collaborative HIV Research

For further information, please contact:

Satellite organiser partner:

EATG, European AIDS Treatment Group, Brussels, Belgium, Tel. +32 491 348 318

Laure Sonnier: laure.sonnier@eatg.org ;

CHAARM project communication partner:

MINERVA Consulting & Communication Sprl., Brussels, Belgium, Tel. +32 2 544 18 88

Hinano Spreafico: hinano@minerva-communication.eu

CHAARM:

Combined Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Microbicides, is a project that aims at supporting and promoting research on combinations of new and existing microbicides. It is a large scale collaborative project co-funded by the European Union under the 7th Framework Programme (FP7), which brings together some of the top researchers and scientists from 31 organisations around the world. More info on: http://chaarm.eu