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The hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemic was forecasted through 2030 for 17 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, and interventions for achieving the Global Health Sector Strategy on viral hepatitis targets-"WHO Targets" (65% reduction in HCV-related deaths, 90% reduction in new infections and 90% of infections diagnosed by 2030) were considered. Scaling up treatment and diagnosis rates over time would be required to achieve these targets in all but one country, even with the introduction of high SVR therapies. The scenarios developed to achieve the WHO Targets in all countries studied assumed the implementation of national policies to prevent new infections and to diagnose current infections through screening.

The literature on sero-epidemiological studies of flaviviral infections in the African continent is quite scarce. Much of the viral epidemiology studies have been focussing on diseases such as HIV/AIDS because of their sheer magnitude and impact on the lives of people in the various affected countries. Increasingly disease outbreaks caused by arboviruses such as the recent cases of chikungunya virus, dengue virus and yellow fever virus have prompted renewed interest in studying these viruses. International agencies from the US, several EU nations and China are starting to build collaborations to build capacity in many African countries together with established institutions to conduct these studies. The Tofo Advanced Study Week (TASW) was established to bring the best scientists from the world to the tiny seaside town of Praia do Tofo to rub shoulders with African virologists and discuss cutting-edge science and listen to the work of researchers in the field. In 2015 the 1st TASW focussed on Ebola virus. The collections of abstracts from participants at the 2nd TASW which focused on Dengue and Zika virus as well as presentations on other arboviruses are collated in this chapter.

L’acces aux antiretroviraux a permis de prolonger l’esperance de vie des patients vivant avec le VIH. Toutefois, les co-infections VIH-hepatites virales, dans les pays endemiques pour ces infections, constitue un probleme pour une bonne prise en charge. Afin de connaitre l’ampleur de telles co-infections au Gabon, nous avons recherche, par technique ELISA, les marqueurs d’infection par les virus des hepatites B, C, et E chez 762 adultes infectes par le VIH-1. La quantification de l’ADN plasmatique du VHB (CV VHB) a ete effectuee par PCR en temps reel. Les amplifications des ARN VHC et VHE ont ete effectuees par RT-PCR et PCR nichees. La seroprevalence de l’infection a hepatite B chronique etait de 9,3 %. Parmi les patients avec des profils AcHBc isoles, la prevalence de l’infection a hepatite B occulte etait de 26,7 %, soit une prevalence reelle (CV-VHB detectables) de 17,3 % sur la population totale. La seroprevalence VHC etait de 8,8 %. Parmi les 67 patients seropositifs, 76,1 % avaient des profils replicatifs (ARN VHC detectables), soit une prevalence globale de 6,7 % sur la population totale. Pour l’hepatite E la seroprevalence etait de 3,5 %. Aucune infection chronique VHE n’a ete retrouvee. En conclusion, cette etude met en evidence un fort taux de co-infections VIH-Hepatites B, C et E au Gabon. Par ailleurs, nous montrons l’interet de rechercher les infections chroniques (profils replicatifs) chez les patients infectes par le VIH au Gabon. La mise en place de plateaux techniques pour ce type de recherche, accessible aux pays a revenus intermediaires s’impose.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0152310.].