IPOPI and ASID working together

By Martine Pergent

IPOPI was delighted to actively take part in the primary immunodeficiencies “1^st African and Arab PID expert meeting” in Morocco on March 25-26, 2018. The two-day meeting aimed at finalising and validating the ASID Aproject. This was an opportunity to also work on the next African Society for Immunodeficiencies (ASID) taking place next in Senegal in 2019.

The Aproject (African Project) is an ambitious effort to raise medical awareness of primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs) in African countries. This project is aimed at training and empowering African doctors and healthcare professionals with practical knowledge and basic skills, to identify and manage PIDs using available resources.
The “1^st African and Arab PID expert meeting” focused on finalising and validating the broad content now adapted to better raise awareness among physicians and prepare them to diagnose PID patients in countries where, so far, there are none or very few. The group was composed of experts from different countries and included doctors and nurses.
Aprojects are one day workshops that will be organised in levels, from 1 to 3. Level 1 AProject will initiate on and get the insight of PID, provide the basis of Diagnosis and treatment, Level 2 AProject will focus on management of common problems in PID and Level 3 AProject will be dedicated to adult Diagnosis and treatment and patient education.

Two Aproject were also validated: Nurses Aproject, a Biological Aproject. The meetings dedicated to nurses will train them to administer immunoglobulin therapy to PID patients and the Biologists’Aproject will prepare professionals on the tests needed for PID diagnosis.

In addition to this, the group has reviewed the content of a true A Training Project to raise the profile of PID specialists in Africa. This training is much more demanding, lasting from 1 month to 2 months depending on the level (specialist from local hospital, of regional or university hospitals) with contents of training encompassing diagnosis, chronic treatment and follow up until Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (preparation and follow up).

The A project was launched in 2013 under the leadership of Prof Aziz Bousfiha (Morocco) and his team and supported by Dr Monika Esser (South Africa). The Aproject has developed a lot since its inception, with one-day workshops taking place in many countries, such as, Algeria, Benin, Cameroun, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Togo, Uganda and Zambia.

This meeting was also a great opportunity to work on the preparation of next 2019 ASID meeting in Senegal. Prof Tandakha Dieye, current chair of ASID, has secured a nice scientific venue in his country and is working hard to ensure the success of this meeting where IPOPI and INGID (internacional nursing group for PIDs) will also take active part in.