Conference Objectives

Conference Objectives

The main aim of the conference was to bring together stakeholders from all levels of the health system, from community organisations to health care providers and policy makers to present and discuss new technologies and approaches for integrated testing and linkage to care for HIV, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and tuberculosis (TB), highlighting programmatic and implementation achievements and challenges and adaptation of testing services in response to emerging public health issues, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The main objectives of the HepHIV 2021 conference were to:

  1. Exchange lessons learned regarding the impact of COVID-19 on testing and linkage to care services for HIV, viral hepatitis, STIs and TB
  2. Discuss challenges for reaching the SDGs related to prevention, testing and linkage to care for HIV, viral hepatitis, STIs and TB
  3. Share best practices of combination prevention and integrated testing programmes, including innovative/new approaches, and discuss implementation gaps and the use of evidence-based implementation approaches
  4. Discuss progress and gaps in models of testing and care for people who inject or use drugs

The conference ended with a call to action addressing implications for policy and implementation agendas in the field of earlier and integrated testing.