Work Package 5: Training workshops on harm reduction interventions in Vilnius, Lithuania
Local professionals from different low threshold services and institutions involved in harm reduction service provision were invited to attend 3 different workshops: (1) “Opioid Agonist Treatment”, (2) “Overdose Prevention”, and (3) “Other Harm Reduction interventions”.
The workshops were coordinated by…
Michael Krone (AAE) moderated the conference "HIV in Eastern Europe - the unnoticed epidemic?!" which took place in Berlin on October 17, 2017, organized by Aktionsbündnis gegen AIDS (Action Alliance against AIDS), Bread for the World (Brot für die Welt) and Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe.
Representatives of the German and Belarus Ministries of Health and International Affairs, civil society organisations…
The first ever Europe-wide online survey has been launched with the aim of improving health care services for men who have sex with men (MSM). The ECHOES survey is the first of its kind to target community health workers who provide sexual health support including counselling, testing, and psychosocial care for MSM. The findings of the ground-breaking ECHOES survey will be used to help understand…
Following a workshop in Budapest last autumn on how to secure sustainable funding for harm reduction in Central and Eastern Europe, Jeffrey Lazarus spoke with participants about what is working in their countries. The resulting interviews are part of the European Joint Action on HIV and Co-infection Prevention and Harm Reduction (HA-REACT). This time he interviewed Nicoleta Dascalu, who serves as…
Yesterday, AAE and Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe (DAH) welcomed a group of 20 young activists from Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and Russia to present and discuss our work . The Berlin meeting was organised by the Russian-speaking LGBT NGO Quarteera based in Berlin. The meeting focused on AAE's and DAH's activities and on the prevention campaign IWWIT - "I know what I am doing" (Ich weiss was ich tu) of DAH…
Take part in and share the first ever European survey on people who provide sexual health and support services for MSM in community settings in the EU and neighbouring countries. Providing input from your country is especially important as this will be the basis of developing trainings for you and your colleagues.
Who can participate:
Anyone who provides sexual health support to MSM in community…
Lithuanian professionals visited Madrid and Barcelona to learn about improving harm reduction services for people who inject drugs
As part of WP5 of the European project “Joint Action on HIV and Co-Infection Prevention and Harm Reduction” (HA-REACT), a delegation from Lithuania including: psychiatrists, narcologists, nurses, and social workers, visited Madrid (12-13 September) and Barcelona (14-…
On September 19th, 2017 a new Joint Action on integrating prevention, testing and linkage to care strategies across HIV, viral hepatitis, TB and STIs in Europe (INTEGRATE) was launched in Brussels.
Throughout the day it was outlined that civil society plays a key role in reaching out to key populations at all stages, in prevention, testing and counselling, linkage to care and retention in care.…
The first European HIV Academy for Enabling Legal Environments took place in Berlin, Germany on September 13-14, 2017 with the participation of 30 advocates and community representatives from 20 countries addressing legal and regulatory barriers such as HIV-criminalization, the criminalization of key populations and over-medicalized HIV testing regulations.
Besides increasing awareness and…
Are you involved in an HIV/AIDS related NGO or community group?
Is your organisation a member or partner of AIDS Action Europe?
Are you motivated to work towards a more effective response to the HIV epidemic in Europe and Central Asia?
If so, apply now! We currently have a vacancy for: 2 members of our Steering Committee
AIDS Action Europe is looking for new Steering Committee Members for the…
AIDS Action Europe identified affordability of medicines and diagnostics as a key priority to work on in its Strategic Framework for 2015-2017. AAE produced a training manual and has already organized 4 workshops based across the European Region addressing the issue of access to affordable medicines.
The idea of organizing trainings came up as we have been following as members the European…
AAE takes part in the preparation of the International AIDS Conference, the largest conference on any global health or development issue in the world. Our partner AFEW International prepares a newsletter in the run up to AIDS2018 every two weeks. Interested persons and organisations can subscribe to this newsletter and get informed about news on the EECA region and on AIDS2018. The latest issue…
AIDS Action Europe is happy to launch the call for trainee applications for its regional training for Southern European EU countries on affordability and pricing of medications.
AIDS Action Europe brings together civil society to work towards a more effective response to the HIV epidemic in Europe and Central Asia.
AIDS Action Europe is a pan-European network of HIV organisations with over 400…
Deadline extended!
AIDS Action Europe is looking for a new Steering Committee Member from the non-EU Southeast Europe region for the term of September 18, 2017 to December 31, 2019. To find out more about position and criteria please read the call for application.
If you are interested and meet the criteria, please apply! Your application should consist of a letter explaining your…
Today is World Hepatitis Day. According to the World Health Organization there are an estimated 400 million people infected with viral hepatitis B and C and around 1.45 million die annually from their consequences. The main focus of this day is to raise awareness and to promote access to prevention, testing and treatment for people affected by hepatitis. The slogan of this year´s WHD encourages…
A call for applications for the European HIV Academy for Enabling Legal Environments is now open.
This two-day training academy for people living with and affected by HIV, is dedicated to skills building for addressing punitive or disabling legal environments.
Around 25 participants from across Europe will be selected to take part in this training academy, which will focus on three…
4th Meeting of the ECDC Hepatitis B and C Network and joint meeting with the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) Drug-Related Infectious Disease (DRID) Network
14 June 2017
During the pan-European infectious disease meeting of the ECDC and EMCDDA, three major European projects had the opportunity to share their work in a “world café” format. In an effort to get…
On May 29, 2017 Portugal as fifth country in Europe announced the introduction of Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) as one of the HIV prevention tools covered by the national health system. PrEP, on the individual level, decreases anxiety and increases the level of control and therefore has a positive impact on quality of life. It will also decrease incidence of HIV infections and affect national…
Sini Pasanen, AIDS Action Europe Steering Committee Member and Executive Director, Positiiviset ry, HivFinland speaks about the role of community organisations in the fight against AIDS and adresses a strong appeal to the governments. The shorter version of the article has been published in the Government Gazette Vol 1; 2017, p. 58., the issue is dedicated to sustainable heathcare.
During…
This interview was produced in the framework of the first ever Europe-wide online survey aimed at community health workers who provide sexual health support including counselling, testing, and psychosocial care for gay, bisexual and other MSM. European Community Health Workers Online Survey (ECHOES) is available online NOW in 16 languages and will remain open until 31st December 2017. To take…
This blog was originally written for and published on the website of the NGO Delegation to the UNAIDS PCB by our colleague, Ferenc Bagyinszky who is the UNAIDS PCB Europe Delegate.
On April 28, 2017 UNAIDS held a multi-stakeholder consultation on the findings and the recommendations made by the Global Review Panel that looked into the future operating model of the United Nations Joint…
Vilnius Center for Addictive Disorders, Vilnius, Lithuania, May 3-6, 2017
Keynote Speaker: Emilis Subata
EU Joint Action on HIV and co-infection prevention and harm reduction (“HAREACT”) continues from October 2015 until September 2018. Twenty-three partners (organizations) from 18 European countries joined the project. The project has a budget 3.75 m EUR and EU co-funds project by 80%.…
Earlier we reported about the Lithuanian association “Demetra” being under threat from governmental organizations of closing down its community-based rapid HIV testing. This was stated in the Demetra’s press-release:
“"As a response to Demetra’s HIV testing services, National Communicable Diseases and AIDS Centre (CCAC) started inspections of Demetra without any notice, basing its actions on…
During the Steering Committee Meeting in Athens, on April 24-25 2017, AIDS Action Europe met with its Greek member organisations. The meeting was organised by our Steering Committee member, Marianela Kloka from PRAKSIS, Greece. AAE used the opportunity to learn more about the situation on the ground, the challenges faced by the organisations and explored the needs for joint advocacy action.
The…
Association “Demetra” would like to inform about the inconceivable situation in Lithuania regarding an attack on community-based rapid HIV testing by governmental organizations.
"As a response to Demetra’s HIV testing services, National Communicable Diseases and AIDS Centre (CCAC) started inspections of Demetra without any notice, basing its actions on legislation which has not been updated…
Service provider: NGO “DIA+LOGS” (supervised by SPKC (CDPC of Latvia))
Mobile Unit staff: 23h/per week (4 days)
Medical worker (nurse - 1) – 14h/week: provide testing, consultations about (HIV, TB, HCV, overdose prevention, treatment, condom use, wound treatment etc.).
Social worker (1) – 23h/week: consultation, motivation, helps medical w, exchange syringes, distribute condoms.
Outreach…
AIDS Action Europe is happy to launch the call for trainee applications for its regional training for Southern European EU countries on affordability and pricing of medications.
The aim of the training is to build capacities of civil society organizations from the EU countries in South Europe for the advocacy on universal access to treatment and affordability and pricing of medications. The…
AIDS Action Europe would like to welcome and introduce to you our new AAE Steering Committee Member: Richard Stranz. We talked with Richard about his background and his expactations as a member as AIDS Action Europe Steering Committee.
AAE:.Richard, you have been working in the field of HIV for more than two decades now. Please tell us about your background and experiences both at national and…
“There seems to be an agreement and consensus on targets in order to fast track the end of AIDS. But do we do really everything to get there?” With a strong and dedicated speech Sini Pasanen, co-Chair of the EU HIV/AIDS Civil Society Forum for AIDS Action Europe, addressed the audience of the EU-Presidency technical meeting in Malta.
Do we have needles and syringes in prisons? Are we offering…
In Russia, officially, around 750,000 people have been diagnosed with HIV. The actual number is likely to be higher. In some regions the country seems to be in the transition to a "general epidemic", which means that more than one per cent of the population is living with HIV.
In the 1990s, the virus spread mainly among drug users. Also, today the official numbers show that more than half of the…