December 21, 2016

Bolivia – 1st International PID Symposium

FIDEP, the Bolivian Primary immunodeficiency patient group, organised the first ever PID (primary immunodeficiencies) medical meeting in the country with the support of IPOPI.

The 1st International PID Symposium of Bolivia took place on October 21 at the department of Medical School with an audience of 70 people. Paediatricians, general practitioners, biochemists and allergists actively took part in the event and are now better aware on how to diagnose and treat PIDs.
Many patients and their families were also in attendance and shared their personal struggles to get a correct diagnosis and treatment.

Vivian Kolhberg, FIDEP’s Founder and Chair opened the meeting and Roberta Pena, IPOPI Board Member, presented an overview of IPOPI’s activities.

The medical experts speakers provided great presentations with key information about the immune system, diagnosis of PIDs and types of treatment. Dr Teresa Español, Pediatric Immunologist from Spain, Dr Siglen Aquiri and Dr Antonio Salgado from Argentina spoke about ‘How the immune system works’, ‘Recurrent infections and antibiotics’, ‘Primary Immunodeficiencies, how and when to suspect it?’, ‘Treatment of PIDs’, among many others.

In Bolivia, patients who do not have health care coverage face serious difficulties to access treatment due to its high cost. Those who have access to treatment find however a very short number of products available. Many patients end up being exposed to infections for long periods of time, others choose to move to a different country to get proper care.