Speakers

Event Details

Improving Tuberculosis control in Indonesia; patients, health systems and molecular research

Worldwide, tuberculosis remains one of the most important infectious diseases, affecting >11 million people and killing >1.5 million people each year. Indonesia ranks 3rd in the number of tuberculosis cases worldwide, and faces significant challenges in controlling the disease.

Radboud University has been collaborating for over 20 years with Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung, and University of Indonesia, Jakarta, in infectious disease research. This collaboration has resulted in unique understanding of tuberculosis susceptibility, the synergy between diabetes mellitus and tuberculosis, meningitis as the most severe form of tuberculosis, and barriers in tuberculosis control in Indonesia. It has also helped improve policy related to tuberculosis in Indonesia, as well as laboratory diagnosis and tuberculosis treatment. Based on the research, 20 PhD theses (13 focussing on tuberculosis) have been completed, and 6 PhD projects (4 on tuberculosis) are ongoing, which has contributed significantly to institutional and individual academic development.

In this session we will give a brief overview of the collaborative TB research, with examples of ongoing research projects, and opportunities for MSc and PhD students, and a discussion of some of the ‘lessons learned’ in this collaboration, aimed at students, university staff and others with an interest in TB or in academic collaboration

Takeaways

• introduction to tuberculosis research, linking molecular (‘discovery science’), clinical and population research
• introduction to a longstanding and successful research collaboration and in factors accounting for its success (‘lessons learned’)
• insight in specific projects and exciting results of this collaboration (lab-based, patients and population)

Event Recording