2nd Progress Meeting: TANDEM at half time

Given the beneficial nature of the field site visit to Stellenbosch University, which had been conducted in conjunction with the 1^st Progress Meeting in 2014, the consortium had decided to hold the subsequent 2015 annual meeting at another field site, which was Padjadjaran University in Bandung, Indonesia.  During the meeting, which took place from 18 to 20 May and which marked the half time of the TANDEM project, all participants had the possibility to get to know the Indonesian site’s labs, the recruitment centres and clinics and the workflows that were established on the ground to successfully implement the TANDEM study.

In addition, during three days of extensive scientific discussions, presentations and work group meetings, consortium members updated each other on the progress achieved at the individual institutions and paved the way for the next steps along the road to make sure that the TANDEM project keeps moving forward.

The meeting also included interesting side events, such as a meeting with the Indonesian National TB and DM Representatives. In this way, the meeting has also helped giving the TANDEM project greater visibility within Indonesia and the local institutions, too.

The Indonesian team proved to be excellent hosts and managed to foster the TANDEM spirit by preparing special TANDEM t-shirts for each participant and having the group singing and playing musical instruments together!

Thus, on taking stock, we see that the TANDEM consortium keeps being very committed to the project two years into its lifetime. The group is looking forward to the upcoming months and keen on making further progress in its TB-DM research.