Kirby Institute Seminar Series - 14 November 2014

Event date
Friday 14th November 2014
Event time
3:30 PM
Event address
The Kirby Institute Level 6 Seminar Room Wallace Wurth Building UNSW Australia Sydney NSW 2052

Location:

The Kirby Institute Level 6 Seminar Room Wallace Wurth Building UNSW Australia Sydney NSW 2052

Open to

All

Contact for enquiries 

The Kirby Institute Reception 9385 0900

The Kirby Institute is pleased to present:

Kylie-Ann Mallitt - "Geographical trends in the Australian HIV epidemic: undiagnosed infections and clinical service provision."
 

Duy (Quang)Pham-"Evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of HIV prevention and treatment programmes in Vietnam."

Abstract:
"Geographical trends in the Australian HIV epidemic: undiagnosed infections and clinical service provision."
The number of undiagnosed HIV infections can be estimated from HIV surveillance data, and varies by state/territory in Australia. Clinical opportunities to diagnose HIV in a more timely manner may occur with hospital presentations and other notifiable condition diagnoses. For people with diagnosed HIV, linkage to HIV clinical services is essential for appropriate treatment and reducing ongoing transmission. As the ageing population of PLHIV increases in geographic spread, HIV clinical services will be increasingly required outside of inner metropolitan areas to meet this need.

"Evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of HIV prevention and treatment programmes in Vietnam."
Over the past 25 years, much has changed in attempts to mitigate burden of HIV in Vietnam, where the epidemic initiated among people who inject drugs and remained concentrated among key affected populations.  A large amount of domestic and international resources were invested in Vietnam’s HIV programmes, but no national evidence is currently available to demonstrate population health benefits and value-for-money of the HIV response. Like many other low- and middle-income countries, antiretroviral therapy programmes have been rapidly scaled-up in Vietnam over the past decade. However, the widespread use of antiretroviral drugs in context of a fragile health infrastructure, with shortage of health professionals, in the absence of viral load monitoring strategies, and with a lack of salvage therapies can result in the emergence of a new epidemic of HIV drug resistance. People infected with drug-resistant HIV strains may develop early virological failure, subsequently leading to an accumulation and transmission of resistant strains, and higher mortality rates.
This study investigates the possible population impacts and cost-effectiveness of the HIV programmes implemented in Vietnam over the period 2006-2010 using a retrospective modelling approach. It also aims to improve the current HIV care and treatment model for people living with HIV by assessing population-level effects of viral load monitoring on the acquisition and transmission of HIV drug resistance in this country.

Biography:
Kylie-Ann Mallitt is a PhD student under the supervision of David Wilson and Handan Wand. She joined The Kirby Institute in 2010 in the Surveillance and Evaluation Program for Public Health. Kylie-Ann also works as a consultant biostatistician in the School of Women’s and Children’s Health, UNSW.

Dr Quang Pham has a clinical background in Vietnam before moving into the field of public health. Quang worked for the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, a Ministry of Health’s affiliated public health institute, and was a member of the national working group on HIV treatment and the surveillance and monitoring of outbreaks of HIV drug resistance in Vietnam before moving to UNSW to extend his training in mathematical modelling.