Professor of TNMU Participated in the 17th Scientific Symposium on the Occasion of World Tuberculosis Day 2025 in Berlin
On March 17-19, 2025, the 17th Scientific Symposium on the Occasion of World Tuberculosis Day 2025 in Berlin, Germany, and the 21st Meeting of the Working Group Health in Eastern Europe & Central Asia took place. Professor Leonid Hryshchuk from the Department of Propedeutics of Internal Medicine and Phthisiology of Ternopil National Medical University participated in these events.
During the 21st Meeting of the Working Group Health in Eastern Europe & Central Asia, a delegation of 24 doctors from various specialties and regions of Ukraine met with representatives of German businesses to establish cooperation.
The opening speech at the 17th Scientific Symposium was delivered by Professor Timo Ulrichs, Vice President, Director of the Institute for Research in International Assistance (IRIA), Head of the Department of International Assistance in Emergencies and Disasters and Global Health.
Given that resistance to antimycobacterial drugs is becoming the most significant global health threat in the coming year and that tuberculosis treatment faces increasing resistance to multiple drugs, this issue was a key topic addressed at the symposium.
The symposium featured 25 presentations by researchers from 11 countries. Experts in tuberculosis, WHO representatives, health policymakers, private companies, hospitals, and other anti-tuberculosis institutions worldwide discussed the most urgent challenges in fighting tuberculosis soon.
The first scientific day was dedicated to the following topics:
- Session 1: How to support TB control politically in times of crises;
- Session 2: How to eliminate TB – perspectives from WHO, NGOs, politics, and the private sector.
Notable presentations included:
- Askar Yedilbayev, Regional Advisor, TB, and DR-TB, WHO Europe: Epidemiology of TB in the WHO European Region, current WHO activities;
- Sayohat Hasanova, Program Officer for HIV and TB, WHO Europe, Copenhagen: Engagements in fighting TB in the WHO European Region;
- Ute Teichert, German Federal Ministry of Health, Berlin: title to follow.
The second day of the symposium covered:
- Session 3: Updates in diagnostics, treatment, and vaccine development;
- Session 4: Public health and prevention: country experiences and best practice examples.
Key presentations included:
- Soudeh Ehsani, WHO European Office, Copenhagen: TB and DR TB Diagnostics: Harnessing the Power of State-of-the-Art Rapid and Accurate Diagnostics;
- Masoud Dara, Otsuka Novel Products GmbH: Global health and R&D activities: title to follow [therapy];
- Carsten Höß, Serum Life Sciences Europe, Hannover: title to follow [vaccine/prevention];
- Eka Kokhreidze, NTP of Georgia, Tbilisi: Latent TB infections, an evaluation;
- Valeriu Crudu, National TB Reference Laboratory Phthisiopneumology Institute, Chisinau, Moldova: Evolution of resistance to the new drugs in high tuberculosis burden countries;
- Jasmin Behrends, Joanna Ladomirska, Doctors Without Borders, MSF Poland: TB in Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
Professor Leonid Hryshchuk presented at the symposium with the report “Features of the Course of Tuberculosis in Children and Adolescents in Ternopil Region of Ukraine.”
Leonid Hryshchuk expresses sincere gratitude to Professor Timo Ulrichs and the symposium’s organizing committee members, Fiona Morrison, Gaby Feldmann, and Philipp Endler, for the invitation to the event and support during the visit to Germany.