Skip to main content
First International Post-TB Symposium held in Stellenbosch

First International Post-TB Symposium held in Stellenbosch

Susan Erasmus
23 September 2019

A recent two-day Post TB-symposium in Stellenbosch consisted of 14 lectures and seven workshops presented by specialists from a variety of disciplines, including clinicians, rehabilitation specialists, scientists, researchers, patient representatives, social scientists and healthcare advocates. There were 68 delegates from five continents who attended the symposium.

"This symposium was unique, as it was the first time ever that people have met at a stand-alone Symposium to discuss the problems that occur in patients after having completed tuberculosis therapy," according to Dr Brian Allwood, consultant pulmonologist in the Division of Pulmonology at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Stellenbosch. He also served on the managing committee for this conference.

"Most research is focused on the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis, with very little attention being given to the countless numbers of people who have to continue life with scars of tuberculosis, both physical, psychological and social. This was also unique in that it was a truly multi-disciplinary international symposium addressing many aspects of life after tuberculosis," Allwood added.

This working symposium, which consisted of morning lectures and afternoon workshops, was aimed at gaining consensus among the delegates in defining the current state of knowledge and identifying research priorities in the field. It was also decided to limit the number of delegates in order to allow for meaningful discussion and interaction.

Delegates, were welcomed by Stellenbosch University Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Wim de Villiers. He mentioned that it was the first international symposium of its kind, and stressed the importance of international collaboration in the field of research.

"It is an important indicator of competitiveness, enhances the quality of research and improves both its efficiency and effectiveness," De Villiers said. "Stellenbosch University is striving to become Africa's leading research-intensive university, globally recognised as excellent, inclusive and innovative, where we advance knowledge in service of society". 

He mentioned the 150 bilateral agreements that Stellenbosch University has with universities across the world in 45 countries and the 120 collaborative partnerships the university has with 26 fellow African Universities.

He also thanked the funders who made the symposium possible. These included Stellenbosch University itself and also contributions from the IMPALA collaboration (headed by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine), the UNION against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, and the Desmond Tutu TB Centre in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

The opening address was delivered by Professor Eric Bateman, Professor of Pulmonary Medicine at the University of Cape Town.

Topics for the lectures and workshops ranged from the purely medical to the socio-economic to the treatment and management aspects relating to post-tuberculosis. There was a strong emphasis on preventative care and on ways in which the quality of TB care could be improved at various levels and in different healthcare settings. The last workshop also specifically looked at how post TB lung disease is currently managed and at which methodology future TB lung outcome investigations should include.

"At the symposium we were able to facilitate face-to-face meeting of experts in a number of different domains to discuss a number of difficulties in this topic, while at the same time beginning the much needed advocacy for people living after tuberculosis," according to Allwood.

At the end of the second day, there was a session in which feedback was given from the plenary workshop.

"We were also able to reach consensus on the term “Post-tuberculosis", which until now has not been uniformly embraced, and to plan a path forward in terms of priority needs, both in research and advocacy. Thus we were able to collectively draw up a road map for the next few years," added Allwood.