Panafrican News Agency

French-speaking healthcare professionals on HIV/AIDS to meet in Cameroon on Tuesday

Cotonou, Benin (PANA) - The Alliance francophone des acteurs de santé contre le VIH et les infections virales chroniques ou émergentes (French-speaking alliance of healthcare professionals working to combat HIV and chronic or emerging viral infections - (AFRAVIH) is holding its 12th conference in Yaoundé, Cameroon, from 16 to 19 April, the organisers announced on Monday.

The conference will provide an opportunity to share knowledge, strengthen partnerships and promote effective strategies for the prevention and treatment of these diseases on the African continent, they said.

AFRAVIH was set up in 2009 as a follow-up to the first French-speaking conference on the fight against HIV, held in Montreal, Canada, in 2001.

Its aim is to bring together health professionals and stakeholders from the various communities involved in the fight against HIV in French-speaking countries.

AFRAVIH has now broadened its focus to include viral hepatitis and, more broadly, chronic and emerging viral infections, which represent a major challenge for global health in terms of infectious diseases.

Aware of the very different issues at stake in French-speaking countries, AFRAVIH is diversifying its activities beyond the biennial conference by holding sub-regional conferences, such as AFRAMED, which has been bringing together the French-speaking community in the Maghreb countries every two years since 2015.

To promote clinical research, AFRAVIH has been organising a course specifically for clinicians from West African countries every two years since 2007. The Yaoundé meeting ends on Friday.

-0- PANA IT/JSG/BBA/MA 15April2024