Almaty: ECAT meeting on expanding access to treatment and diagnostics for HIV, viral hepatitis, and tuberculosis

The Eurasian Community for Access to Treatment (ECAT) meeting on expanding access to treatment and diagnostics for three infectious diseases: HIV, viral hepatitis, and tuberculosis kicked off on 27 September in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The event was organized by the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ITPC EECA) and funded by ITPC Global and the Health Advocacy Coalition (HAC) under the SOS_2.0 project.

The event brought together representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the civil sector from different countries of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) region, such as Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The participants met to discuss important aspects related to infectious disease control.

The main topics of discussion were issues related to the registration of medicines, their pricing policy, diagnostic tests, as well as the introduction of innovative medical products on the EECA market. The participants will also have an opportunity to communicate with representatives of pharmaceutical companies such as ViiV Healthcare and Viatris (Mylan), as well as manufacturers of diagnostic tests Cepheid and Molbio.

The meeting also included a training session on diagnostic tools from a representative of Médecins Sans Frontières to inform the invited participants about the latest advances in infectious disease diagnostics. Equally important was the session on new methods of treatment of chronic hepatitis Delta, which was conducted by infectious disease doctor Pavel Khaykin.

This ECAT meeting is an important step towards improving access to quality medical care and reducing the spread of infectious diseases in the EECA region, and its results are key for future initiatives in this area.

Minutes of the meeting with pharmaceutical companies and other important materials will be published on the ITPC EECA website at the link: https://www.eeca-cat.info.

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Mobilizing Civil Society in the EECA Region for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and HIV Advocacy