3. Fund cohort studies to provide information on the long-term health of people living with HIV

As a powerful mechanism for clinical research and monitoring, which can in turn provide evidence for policy, cohorts and clinical databases of people living with HIV have been established in several European countries. Most of these have worked together (since the early 1990s) in collaborative networks through European Union funding mechansims – culminating in EuroCoord, a European Network of Excellence.

The European Union should recommit to providing stable funding to enable future collaboration and establish cohorts/databases in European countries where none currently exist. These studies are uniquely designed to understand the evolution of complex and multifaceted diseases. They can flexibly adapt to new data requirements and complement the information provided by surveillance structures.