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The Harvard Medical School Center for Global Health Delivery–Dubai hosted a keynote lecture at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Academic Medical Center in Dubai Healthcare City. This event brought together researchers, practitioners, and leaders in health care and health delivery from across the globe. Participants from the NIH TB Infection Meeting (“Building a Framework for Eradication,” September 27-28, 2017) and from the Zero TB Initiative’s Indicators Meeting (September 26, 2017), as well as local researchers and practitioners formed a large part of the audience.
The keynote lecture was given by Richard Chaisson, MD, professor of medicine, epidemiology, and international health at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Chaisson has been a leading voice in the call for treatment of TB infection as a critical component to stopping the TB epidemic. In his lecture, titled “The Role of TB Infection in TB Elimination,” Dr. Chaisson discussed some of the key barriers to TB elimination including inadequate attention to the role of TB infection treatment. While guidelines have stated that high-burden settings cannot afford to treat TB infection, Dr. Chaisson argues that we cannot afford not to treat TB infection. Dr. Chaisson’s engaging lecture provided a call to action to treat TB infection and sparked lively conversation with the audience.
The keynote lecture was paired with a networking dinner sponsored by the Harvard Medical School Center for Global Health Delivery–Dubai as well as a photo exhibit titled “Healing Life, Delivering Care” by Shezad Noorani. Noorani is an award-winning photographer with a deep interest in social issues that affect people in poor and vulnerable settings. “Healing Life, Delivering Care” explores the suffering that the sick endure as well as health interventions and accompaniment that can be delivered. The photo exhibit intended to encourage viewers to reflect on their collective efforts to alleviate human suffering.
The keynote lecture, networking dinner, and photo exhibit served to bring together leading researchers, practitioners, and leaders in TB care and encourage them to continue working together to treat and prevent TB infection and to accelerate progress toward TB elimination.
Number of Participants: 94
Countries Represented: Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, France, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States of America, and Vietnam