Introducing HIV Outcomes Italy

The results of the survey conducted to assess the opinions on key unmet needs and services available to older people living with HIV were collected and included in the orientation document “Aging in HIV from a gender perspective”

On 28 November, three Italian MPs convened a press conference to launch the ‘Montecitorio illuminated in red’ initiative in observance of World AIDS Day. They emphasised the urgent need to revise Law 135/90, update Italian legislation on HIV/AIDS, and address the ageing and gender-specific needs of people living with HIV. The HIV Outcomes initiative was prominently recognised for its work during the occasion. 

HIV Outcomes Italy organised a session at the Think Tank HIV conference in Milan to present the initiative and its recent work on ageing. Maria Ilaria Bassani, Policy Adviser for Research, Innovation, and Health at the Delegation of the Lombardy Region to the EU, was among the institutional representatives in attendance. 

HIV Outcomes Italy continued its dissemination and engagement activities with Italian parliamentarians sensitive to the issue of HIV/AIDS, including Italian Members of Parliament D’Attis, Girelli and Loizzo.

An online survey on ageing with HIV was launched.

The group finished writing the scientific paper on the results of the 2023 survey and sent it to AIDS CARE journal for publication.
The Italian Secretariat attended a strategic meeting of the European Steering Group in Brussels, presenting the Italian initiative’s achievements and further plans.

HIV Outcomes Italy attended the Italian Conference on AIDS and Antiviral Research (ICAR) in Rome (19-21 June) and promoted the initiative with stakeholders.

A meeting with the new Steering Group focused on setting strategies for 2025. 

HIV Outcomes held a webinar with five Italian candidates in the European Parliament elections to inform and raise awareness about HIV and the initiative as a whole. Three of those candidates are currently serving as Members of the European Parliament for the 2024-2029 mandate.

Italian Member of Parliament Ilenia Malavasi, member of the Committee on Employment of Social Affairs, submitted a Parliamentary question to the Italian Health Minister about gendered perspectives on ageing with HIV, mentioning the HIV Outcomes initiative.

HIV Outcomes Italy held a training webinar for general managers and healthcare managers of FIASO (Federazione Italiana Aziende Sanitarie e Ospedaliere). The webinar addressed the training needs of hospital healthcare workers identified in the 2024 research, focusing on their knowledge of various specifics of HIV and the issue of stigma towards people with HIV.

The Italian initiative’s working group has met to advance on the design of a survey on ageing with HIV.  

The working group started drafting a scientific paper on the results of the 2023 survey “HIV and hospitals between knowledge and stigma”

HIV Outcomes Italy conducted meetings with the new Steering Group, identifying priorities, strategies, and a work plan for 2024, as well as developing a survey on ageing for people living with HIV. 

The Italian initiative engaged with FIASO (Federazione Italiana Aziende Sanitarie e Ospedaliere), an important stakeholder in Italy’s public health sector, for planning an online seminar on topics relevant to HIV Outcomes’ work in Italy and Europe

HIV Outcomes Italy’s survey results on HCOs “HIV and hospitals: an evolving relationship” was dissemination to a large group of institutional stakeholders.

The final orientational document on aging in a gender perspective was dissemniated for further reach, and HIV Outcomes Italy requested that the Regional Institutional Stakeholders include this topic in the PDTA (diagnostic therapeutic care pathway).

The theme of ageing with HIV has been included in the PDTA (diagnostic therapeutic care pathway) for people with HIV in the Lombardy region, with a special chapter dedicated precisely to the care of the elderly people with HIV, with a focus on the issues of frailty assessment and choice of antiretroviral regimen.

HIV Outcomes Italy enlarged its Steering Group with new members, including:
– Sergio Lo Caputo, Università degli Studi di Bari
– Silvia Nozza, Università Vita Salute San Raffaele Milano
– Silvia Negri. Anlaids
– Nicoletta Policek, UK Community Advisory Board (UK-CAB), United Kingdom

HIV Outcomes Italy also held an event titled “Research work ageing in a gender perspective: Institutional presentation and discussion“, in collaboration with the technical-scientific body of the National Health Service in Italy given the contribution of various ISS researchers to the HIV Outcomes Italy working group on ageing in a gender perspective. Following this remarkable partnership, a joint press release was released and the event was publicized on the ISS institutional web page.

The HIV Outcomes Italy Secretariat conducted a successful session at the Italian National Conference (ICAR), where it presented the HIV Outcomes initiative and its activities, both at European and national level. Additionally, HIV Outcomes Italy also won a prize for best abstract in social science after presenting the findings from its research on stigma and discrimination within the Italian healthcare system.
 
HIV Outcomes Italy has officially established its Steering Group, consisting of three clinicians and three community representatives. Its mission is to guide HIV Outcomes Italy future activities.

On May 17, HIV Outcomes Italy participated in the HIV Outcomes Roundtable on HIV stigma and discrimination in Spain.

HIV Outcomes Italy submitted an abstract to the Italian Conference on AIDS and Antiviral Research (ICAR 2023), focusing on its research on HIV-related stigma and discrimination in healthcare settings.

The HIV Outcomes Italian Secretariat translated HIV Outcomes policy asks in Italian and disseminated them to key members of the scientific committee and stakeholders in the country.

HIV Outcomes Italy held its first meeting of the expert Working Group on ageing.

Ahead of the Italian Conference on AIDS and Antiviral Research (ICAR 2023, 14-15 June), HIV Outcomes Italy organised a seminar to promote HIV Outcomes policy asks and to foster discussions around ageing with HIV.
 
The HIV Outcomes Italian Secretariat identified its multidisciplinary working group on ageing and translated HIV Outcomes policy asks into Italian.

An analysis of the new institutional framework and mapping of political decision-makers after the last general elections in Italy was prepared.

The 2022 Italian Good Practices Report was launched, including policy recommendations to improve long-term care of people living with HIV.

An informative leaflet which includes a presentation of HIV Outcomes Italy’s vision and mission was developed and disseminated, as well as the organization’s main policy recommendations.

A letter was transmitted and disseminated requesting Italian National Institutions to support the integration of the European Care Strategy by adopting integrated models of long-term care, recognising HRQoL as a valuable indicator to measure well-being and addressing stigma and discrimination in care settings.

Advocated at National level for the extension of the remit of the European Commission’s Steering Group on Health Promotion, Disease Prevention and Management of Non-Communicable Diseases to also include Communicable Diseases.

The final report ‘Proposals for an integrated approach to health in people living with HIV: HIV Outcomes Italy’ was disseminated among Italian stakeholders.

The final report ‘Proposals for an integrated approach to health in people living with HIV: HIV Outcomes Italy’ was shared with Members of the Italian Parliament and Members of the European Parliament, as well as at the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces.

The input received from the Delphi questionnaire was analysed and a final report was drafted in Italian. 

The final results of the Delphi questionnaire were received, and a discussion was held among all relevant stakeholders to begin drafting the final report.

A second round of Delphi questionnaire was shared with both community representatives and clinicians.

A Delphi questionnaire was shared with clinicians and community representatives with the aim to gather information on the current situation in Italy, exploring challenges and barriers to quality of life and identifying possible solutions to address them.

The questionnaire is based on the five recommendations on long-term health, well-being and chronic care for people living with HIV developed by HIV Outcomes Europe in 2017.

A first meeting of a focus group gathering clinicians involved in HIV care was convened in February 2021 with the aim of identifying the existing gaps in the way healthcare systems currently address the quality of life of people living with HIV.

A first focus group bringing together community-based organisations was organized with the aim of capturing the community perspective on the existing gaps in the way HIV care currently addresses the quality of life of people living with HIV.

HIV Outcomes Italy kicked off activities at the end of 2020, with the setup of a group of community representatives and clinicians.