On 14 October 2022, the Malta' LGBTIQ Rights Movement (MGRM)’s HIV Malta branch, alongside the Health Promotion & Disease Prevention Directorate’s (HPDP) Sexual Health Malta arm collaborated together in order to hold a half-day conference focusing specifically on sexual health, HIV an STIs. The conference was held at the Hilton Malta Conference Centre on 14 October 2022.
The conference attracted around 140 healthcare professionals, social workers, mental health practitioners, policymakers and activists. Together we discussed several topics related to sexual health, such as epidemiology, testing, chemsex, preventative treatment such as PrEP and PEP and most importantly, with focus on holistic care centred around the patient. The conference attracted several speakers who together share decades of specialisation in sexual health and related practices in Malta and London. The conference’s keynote guest speakers were Dr Tristan Barber, Consultant Physician in HIV Medicine at Royal Free Hospital, London and Mr Michael O’Dea, a Health and Medical psychologist who leads the Chemsex Service at Terrence Higgins Trust.
After welcome and opening speeches by Dr Paula Vassallo (Director, HPDP) and Prof Charmaine Gauci (Superintendent of Public Health), Mr Joe Grima (MGRM) and Ms Maria Axisa (Sexual Health Malta) spoke about the collaboratoin that exists between HPDP and NGOs including MGRM. This was followed by an overview of the trends in STIs in Malta over the last 15 years by Dr Tanya Melillo, and a detailed description of Malta’s current HIV treatment by Dr Manuel Fenech (Infectious Disease Consultant).
The second half of the conference started with a testimonial by Ms Jackie Roberts (Checkpoint Malta) on life with HIV, focusing on stigma and access to services. Dr Tristan Barber (Consultant and Physician, Royal Free Hospital, London) followed this with a talk about clinical improvements that champion patient centred and holistic care. Dr Barber later also presented best-in-class practices on sexual health history-taking, and HIV testing which proposed ways to collect information on sexual history from patients in a manner that is not stigmatising, and ethical. Mr Michael O’Dea (National Chemsex Service Coordinator at Terrence Higgins Trust, London) then focused on understanding the psychology of Chemsex. Finally, Dr Donia Gamoudi gave a presentation on preventative treatment, focusing on PrEP and PEP, together with an overview of how to access testing in Malta.
We would like to thank all those who helped organise this conference, those who participated and the many professionals who attended.
HIV Malta
