MedTrop satellite events: opportunity to bring together researchers from Brazil and from abroad

Satellite Events were the opportunity for participants to exchange their expertise, to discuss possible partnerships in other areas and in collaborative projects

The 54th Edition of the Congress of the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine (MedTrop) had massive participation with over 1800 students and residents, who subjected 4.032 scientific papers, of which, 3.800 approval for oral presentations and E-poster format. The comprehensive programming, consisting of 42 round tables, 23 lectures, 11 conferences and 23 courses, allowed researchers, doctors and students discuss the most important issues of Tropical Medicine, in addition to discuss matters related to publications, evaluation of graduate programs, sanitation in health, with greater emphasis on the arboviral diseases, while approaching great endemic diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis.

The president of the 15th National Meeting on Malaria Research (RNPM), Dr. Wuelton Monteiro didnt hide his enthusiasm when saying that all the Organizing Committee was very pleased with the outcome of the meeting, especially after the various compliments received from presenters and participants, especially regarding the themes chosen for the round tables. He says that many stressed the quality of the presentations of the youngest, from graduate students to Ph.D. scientists, who presented their results in the form of turbo talks, as part of the programming. In the words of Dr. Cláudio Ribeiro, is a huge joy to see a thriving 15th Edition of the event, 32 years after the first meeting .

Still according to Dr. Monteiro, the support and the confidence rendered to the organization of the XV RNPM were fundamental to its success. As expressed in the closing, I was very pleased with the result of the work and I hope everyone has enjoyed each lecture, each mini-debate and each turbo talk presented. Each confirmed participation and each assistance that was offered gave us the confidence that everything would work out, he celebrates. As a result, he emphasizes the certainty that, from that meeting, all researchers are doing their utmost to reduce cases and the repercussions of malaria, towards eliminating this problem that still insists on affecting peoples lives, especially and those living in the most remote areas of the country. The population affected by the disease charges from all of us that we chose the research on malariology, he adds.

The 7th Workshop of REDE-TB (TB Network) counted with the paramount importance of the civil society and hosted the meeting of the Community Monitoring Committee on Tuberculosis Research in Brazil (CCAP-TB Brazil). In addition, the event counted with the participation of Municipal and State TB control programs and presented a multidisciplinary and intersectoral scientific program with the participation of over 24 international speakers. It is important to emphasize the participation of several representatives of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), what favored and boosted the recently created BRICS Research Network (November 2017), says Rede-TB President, Dr. Julio Croda.

This edition of the REDE-TB Workshop offered the following courses: Clinical Management of Tuberculosis; Murine Models in Preclinical Study; Mobile Devices Research with Students and Professionals of TB and AIDS Programs (How to Prepare Electronic Forms That Enable Data Collection and Analysis Online, Locally) and Clinical Management of Tuberculosis in Pediatrics. Dr. Croda also points out the parallel business meetings that took place throughout the event, which he said are key to establishing partnerships and planning future projects along with REDE-TB. At night were carried out various social events, in an informal character, which allowed greater integration between the various participants. The manifestation of the people was thrilling and gave us the feeling of mission accomplished and eager for more, he celebrates.

Vectors were also widely debated in the 7th edition of Entomol and the ChagasLeish Applied Research Meeting. During these presentations, the scientific community discussed the development of treatments to relieve the pain of diseases and challenges imposed by vector transmission, as well as the advances on these diseases achieved in Brazil. According to Dr. Maria Helena Neves, member of the Organizing Committee for the Workshop of Genetics and Molecular Biology of Tropical Diseases Vectors, Entomol 7_SOVE Brazil, the seventh edition of this event was a success to the public that deals with insect vectors. The event gathered professionals from the academy and health services, besides graduate and undergraduate students.

Studies with sandflies and mosquitoes were the most discussed topics in the program due to the resurgence of vector-borne diseases and, particularly, arboviral diseases, which play an important role in the current health agenda in Brazil, he says. Still in the vector field, the event promoted the mini-course Vectorbase Platform, by Dr. Gloria Calderon-Giraldo to access bioinformatics resources in the platform (www.vectorbase.org) that fetches data from vector species genomes of great importance in public health.  According to Dr. Maria Helena, sessions of free themes with 21 presentations selected among the papers submitted to the event were also a success, approaching themes of great relevance to this community and that reflected the high quality of the work carried out by research groups in the country. The Workshop had a schedule of 40 high-level scientific presentations at the frontier of knowledge in areas such as biology, genetics and insect control vectors, she celebrates.

Following the success of MedTrop, ChagasLeish 2018 also exceeded the expectations of number of participants, in the scope of its themes and in the number of papers submitted – a total of 719, approaching themes of Chagas disease and Leishmaniasis. Its activities started on August 31 with the first module of the training course for Leaders, following the 3rd Brazilian Social Forum of Infectious and Neglected Diseases Confrontation. The event had a great demand, accounting 208 participants, allowing the preparation of the Letter from Recife, warmly acclaimed in the MedTrop 2018 opening ceremony, said the general coordinator of the 33rd Annual Meeting of Applied Research in Chagas Diseases and 21st Annual Meeting of Applied Research in Leishmaniasis (ChagasLeish 2018), Andréa Silvestre. In total, there were 17 round tables, a workshop and 6 mini-conferences with very diversified themes. Still in the pre-Congress, the event offered 6 courses, 38 teachers, Brazilian experts in the areas of surveillance and vectors, parasitological and molecular diagnostics, basic health attention and translational research.

In total, 94 students, among students and health professionals have benefited from this training. The program was distributed in three simultaneous rooms, invariably crowded, showing the general acceptance of the proposed themes, points out Dr. Andrea while by adding that in total, 120 lecturers, 4 of which by foreign speakers, addressed topics related to applied research on Chagas disease and leishmaniosis. One of the rooms always proposed broad themes, addressing common issues, such as health, vulnerabilities, rights and Democracy, which followed the workshop Research priorities in neglected tropical Diseases (NTDS). Other current approaches such as the challenge of international migrations in controlling NTDs and other successful experiences, as the Sanar Program, were debated and disclosed, as well as the pioneer Brazilian proposition, from Goiás State, to notify chronic Chagas disease cases, she says.

The feedback from the participants was positive, which urges us to move forward on this proposal, improving each day for an even warmer participation, she celebrates. The next Annual Meeting of Applied Research on Chagas Disease and Leishmaniases (ChagasLeish 2019) will take place during the 55th MedTrop, to be held in Belo Horizonte (MG), in the first half of 2019, concurrently with the 26th Brazilian Congress of Parasitology (Brazilian Society of Parasitology).

Joining satellite events expanded participation and made the integration of groups possible. Moreover, it was an opportunity for participants to exchange their expertise, to discuss possible partnerships in other areas and in collaborative projects. That is, MedTrop was able to gather many researchers from Brazil and abroad, not only for its program, but also because of these four satellite events.

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