Guidance and tools are in place to effectively reduce HIV and viral hepatitis incidence and provide optimal treatment and care for those living with the viruses. Countries in eastern Europe and central Asia (EECA) have developed national action plans to address HIV and viral hepatitis, and service delivery models to implement prevention, testing, treatment and care interventions are being developed.

Yet there is a gap between evidence on effective HIV and viral hepatitis interventions and their actual delivery to the full range of people most at risk. The number of new HIV infections continues to increase in many EECA countries, only a small fraction of people with hepatitis B and hepatitis C have been diagnosed, and millions are living with the viruses. Many countries are implementing the recommended interventions, but not at the right scale, in the right location or using the best approach to reach everyone in need of services.

Implementation science and better use of existing programme data can help assess barriers, optimize the practical implementation of evidence-based policies and recommendations in diverse real-world social, cultural, economic and health-system settings, and close the gap between knowledge and practice for a stronger impact on the epidemics.

Workshop aim and objectives

The workshop aims at supporting the participants in using implementation science and programme data to guide the practical implementation of WHO recommendations within their HIV, viral hepatitis and integrated tuberculosis (TB)/HIV/viral hepatitis programmes. It also aims at fostering collaboration between academics, scientists, funders and partners to conduct and support implementation science.

Livestream you can find in both languages, Russian and English: https://streaming.uncity.dk/whoevent/
Programme in English: https://bit.ly/2Sglifk
Programme in Russian: https://bit.ly/2SqoeVe

The specific workshop objectives are:

  • to share relevant examples of HIV, viral hepatitis and integrated TB/HIV/viral hepatitis implementation science and how their findings have been used for decision-making and programme improvement;
  • to improve capacity to use programme data as well as generating and using scientific evidence from HIV, viral hepatitis and TB/HIV/viral hepatitis implementation science to improve the efficiency of national programmes.
  • *to propose a draft HIV and viral hepatitis implementation research agenda for the EECA region.

Expected outcomes

  • Overview of the extent to which implementation science is being conducted and used in the countries of the EECA region.
  • Agreed way forward and next steps for developing a draft implementation research agenda, including options for strengthened collaboration between researchers across the WHO European Region.
  • Meeting report prepared by WHO/Europe and published online.