The 18th Annual Conference of The Union North America Region is taking place in Boston, Massachusetts on 27 February – 1 March 2014. The theme of the conference is “Stronger together: Stopping TB from laboratory to clinic”. The conference will provide new insights into the public health and scientific aspects of TB prevention, care and control. Symposia will focus on global TB epidemiology and control, support and management of patients with complex medical and/or behavioural conditions, multi-drug resistance, latency and key developments in laboratory tools and science.
New to the conference will be a Meet the Professor session. Drs Nardell, Talbot and Wang will share four TB cases that raise challenging questions about diverse aspects of patient and contact management. Each case will be discussed by panel members and the audience; the panel will include expert physician and nurse clinicians from the North America Region.
Also of particular interest will be The Union’s International Management Development Programme (IMDP) workshop titled “Maximizing the Impact of Public Health Messages”. Participants will gain knowledge about evidence-based approaches of strategic communications in public health and how effectively use organisational and media promotional tools to implement communication campaigns. Participants will also learn how to create effective messages and use new media channels.
Conference keynote speakers include Dr Paul Farmer, who will speak on ‘Caring for the Most Vulnerable: Lessons from Haiti’. Dr Farmer is chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and founding director of Partners in Health (PIH), an international non-profit organisation that provides direct health care services and undertakes research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty. Dr Catharina (Kitty) van Weezenbeek will speak on ‘Contemporary TB Control: the perfect mix of science, technology, marketing and management capacity’. Dr van Weezenbeek is Executive Director of KNCV in The Netherlands (a Union constituent member) and the WHO regional team leader of the Stop TB and Leprosy programme of the Western Pacific Region.
Online registration is now open. Visit the conference website for further information and to register: http://www.bc.lung.ca/association_and_services/union.html
The Union North America Region is proudly supported by Union organisational member The British Columbia Lung Association.
Source: The Union