IQhiv: Improving Quality in HIV prevention in Europe (2011–2012)
IQhiv is an initiative of civil society, government, academic and international organizations investigating quality assurance and quality improvement practices relevant to HIV prevention programs and projects across Europe.
IQhiv's mission is to improve the effectiveness of HIV prevention initiatives in Europe by providing tools and technical assistance to implement quality improvement practices.
Objectives:
- Promote the routine inclusion of quality improvement practices into HIV prevention across Europe at the project, program and policy levels.
- Disseminate information on quality improvement practices that have been shown to enhance the effectiveness of HIV prevention at the project, program and policy levels.
Strategies
- Develop and promote a core set of principles and standards for quality improvement in HIV prevention.
- Collect, develop, evaluate and disseminate practical models, approaches and tools for quality improvement for use in HIV prevention.
- Catalogue and disseminate information on relevant quality-assurance/improvement training, coaching and other supporting resources with a focus on HIV prevention in the European context.
- Organise training and capacity-building activities to support the uptake of effective models, approaches and tools for quality improvement in HIV prevention.
Partners
IQhiv is an initiative of WHO Europe, BZgA and AIDS Action Europe.
Click here to download the full IQhiv mission statement.
For more information, go to www.iqhiv.org
HIV in Europe: Working Together for Optimal Testing and Earlier Care
HIV in Europe is a pan-European initiative initiated in Brussels in 2007. The initiative provides a European platform for exchange and activities to improve early diagnosis and earlier care of HIV across Europe. The initiative is directed by an independent group of experts with representation from civil society, policy makers, health professionals and European public health institutions.
Overall objective
The overall objective of HIV in Europe is to ensure that HIV positive patients enter care earlier in the course of their infection than is currently the case, as well as to study the decrease in the proportion of HIV positive persons presenting late for care. HIV in Europe is not an organisation, but an initiative formed to inform processes, share knowledge and improve the evidence base around important issues of earlier testing and care. It is unique in its collaboration between stakeholders from both clinical, advocacy and public health level.
HIV in Europe focuses on 5 concrete projects:
- Consensus definition of late presentation
- Estimating the size of the Infected not yet Diagnosed Population
- HIV Indicator Diseases Across Europe
- The People Living with HIV Stigma Index
- The Criminalisation of HIV
Ton Coenen, Steering Committee Member of AIDS Action Europe, is one of the co-chairs of the HIV in Europe initiative.
More information about HIV in Europe and related projects is available on www.hiveurope.eu.
ROST – Responding to HIV through Organisational Support and Technical Cooperation in EECA (2010–2012)
With the aim of supporting civil society in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), AIDS Action Europe launched this region-wide project 'ROST'- Responding to HIV through Organisational Support and Technical Cooperation in EECA’, which was implemented by AIDS Foundation East-West (AFEW). In Russian, the word ‘rost’ means ‘growth’ and the goal of this three-year project was to facilitate the growth and development of local NGOs and community groups so that they can:
- Advocate more effectively for evidence-based methods and universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support;
- Coordinate their activities with national programmes and governmental initiatives;
- Expand service coverage for most at-risk populations;
- Speak out against stigma and discrimination towards most at risk populations.
The project included the organisation of regional capacity development seminars on advocacy and resource mobilisation for AIDS Action Europe member organisations. Furthermore, there has been a small-grants programme giving the participating NGOs the opportunity to put in practice the skills that they have learned at the seminars. The ROST project built upon two former AAE projects: European Partners in Action on AIDS (EPAA) and the Prevention and Treatment Advocacy Project (PTAP). The project was funded by Aids Fonds, ViiV Healthcare's Positive Action Programme; Levi Strauss Foundation; and Open Society Foundations.
There have been no ROST activities in 2012. On 31 December the MoU with AFEW will end. For any ROST activities beyond 2012, please contact Arkady Grigoriev, project manager ROST at AFEW.
Download the bilingual flyer about the ROST project.
Prevention and Treament Advocacy Project (2005–2009)
From 2005–2009 the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO) implemented – together with its regional partners – a global project called “Community-based Advocacy and Networking to Scale-up HIV Prevention in an Era of Expanded Treatment" or Prevention and Treatment Advocacy Project (PTAP). Ten countries were involved in this project, across five different continents. In Europe, the two participating countries were Russia and Ukraine. The regional coordination was done by the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network in collaboration with AIDS Action Europe. In Russia, PTAP was implemented by the Russian Harm Reduction Network, while in Ukraine this was done by the Coalition of HIV Service Organizations.
Given the risk of HIV prevention efforts falling behind expanded treatment access initiatives, this project aimsed to support a broad-sweeping policy and programming shift to increase access to comprehensive prevention services alongside expanded treatment services. Final reports are curretly being prepared by ICASO, but here is already a glimpse of the results achieved in Russia and Ukraine:
- In Russia, the ongoing support and mobilization of people living with HIV (PLHIV) resulted in the growth of the community into a strong PLHIV network.
- In Ukraine, the National Council and Oblast Coordination Councils extended their mandate to cover both TB and HIV/AIDS thanks to successful lobby of the Ukrainian Coalition of HIV service organisations.
- In Russia, ongoing training enabled to aim at different target groups separately, differentiated approaches were used for PLHIV, injecting drug users and AIDS Service Organisations.
- In Ukraine, the project enabled to consider the different needs per region. In the West, the focus was on training NGOs and CBOs in prevention interventions, while in the South the focus was more on voluntary counselling and testing.
Click here to view the list of materials developed within the PTAP project.
European Partners in Action on AIDS (2006–2008)
In 2006 AIDS Action Europe initiated the project European Partners in Action on AIDS (EPAA). The main objective of the project was to strengthen knowledge, capacity and exchange among AIDS-related NGOs and CBOs in Europe and Central Asia.
One of the key activities of the EPAA project was to build capacity among HIV-related European NGOs on several themes by organising good practice seminars. The themes of these seminars were based on the results of several member consultations. They included:
- Working with the Media (2006)
- Monitoring and Evaluation (2006)
- Gay men’s health (2007)
- Legislation and Judicial systems in relation to HIV/AIDS (2007)
- HIV Voluntary Counselling and Testing (2008)
- Resource Mobilisation (2008)
- Public Policy Dialogue (2008)
The EPAA project furthermore resulted in the creation of the Clearinghouse on HIV and AIDS in Europe and Central Asia. Even though the EPAA project has ended, the clearinghouse continues to serve as thé central database on HIV and AIDS where NGOs, policy makers, networks and other stakeholders in Europe and Central Asia can share key documents and good practice materials.
Click here to view the list of materials produced within the EPAA project.
AIDS Action & Integration (2005–2007)
AIDS Action and Integration was coordinated by AIDES, France in cooperation with AIDS Action Europe, European AIDS Treatment Group (EATG) and the Central and Eastern European Harm Reduction Network (now Eurasian Harm Reduction Network) along with 24 local HIV/AIDS organisations based across the enlarged European Union. The integration projects received a 3-year grant from DG SANCO of the European Commission for the period 2005–2007.
The mission of the AIDS Action and Integration Projects was to support the development of local, community-based HIV/AIDS Non-Governmental Organisations in Central and Eastern Europe, especially in the new and future member states of the European Union.
For more information about this project, please visit www.integration-projects.org or contact Arnaud W. Simon.