National initiatives: Impact inspiring EU change
Thanks to continued progress and innovation, we can now talk about people living longer with HIV across Europe. Yet daily realities still diverge widely: from how stigma is addressed, to whether mental health, ageing, and comorbidities are recognised as part of HIV care at all. To improve these outcomes, we must learn from each other’s successes and connect policy makers to communities and experts across national borders.
HIV Outcomes’ national initiatives in Romania, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands and Poland ensure that EU‑level advocacy is grounded in real‑world experience and directly transferrable to local settings. Their work generates practical evidence that strengthens EU‑level standard‑setting and provides concrete examples of how health‑related quality of life (HRQoL) and person‑centred care can be delivered in practice.
These national experiences offer essential lessons for a new EU Action Plan on HIV/AIDS, demonstrating how HRQoL measurement, long-term care, and whole-person approaches can be embedded in policy and implemented sustainably across Europe.
Romania 🇷🇴
Launched in 2019, HIV Outcomes Romania responds to the unique context of a large cohort of people living with HIV now entering their 30s. The initiative has played a central role in introducing HRQoL as a core principle of national HIV policy, engaging regularly with the Senate, Parliament, and medical associations.
Their landmark national study on quality of life with over 1,050 participants established an evidence base for person-centred, life-course HIV care, and continues to shape national reforms while strengthening community leadership.
See below: A video of Prof. Dr. Adrian Streinu-Cercel, President of the Healthcare Committee in the Romanian Parliament, sharing lessons from Romania’s long-term care model and how these should inform EU-level processes on sustainable, person-centred HIV care.
Italy 🇮🇹
Launched in 2021, HIV Outcomes Italy has championed person-centred care throughout the life course, keeping HIV on the national health policy agenda through sustained engagement with policymakers. In 2023, their advocacy led to the inclusion of ageing in the diagnostic therapeutic care pathway for people living with HIV across multiple regions; a major step in recognising frailty, shared decision-making, and advancing integrated, HRQoL-oriented care.
United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Set up in 2021, HIV Outcomes UK works across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales to ensure that community‑led services, a cornerstone of person‑centred care, inform national decision‑making. Their 2025 report, HIV Services at the Crossroads, provided new evidence on the voluntary and community sector’s essential role in sustaining the HIV response, which has been instrumental in shaping policy priorities and budget allocations across all four nations.
Poland 🇵🇱 and the Netherlands 🇳🇱 join the family
Launched in 2025, these new initiatives are addressing persistent gaps in HIV policy, long-term care and HRQoL. Their work will bring fresh, practice-based insights into how EU policy can support sustainable, person-centred HIV responses in their national contexts.
What is next?
2026 will be busy across Europe!
HIV Outcomes Romania will continue supporting legislative reforms to strengthen the national HIV response, embed HRQoL measurement in national health policies, and secure sustainable financing of the Health Service.
HIV Outcomes Italy will continue engaging institutional representatives and advocate for HRQoL and multimorbidity management in a new legislation file on quality of life.
HIV Outcomes UK will respond to the Government’s commitment to making the NHS App becoming the “front door” to services by convening an Expert Stakeholder Forum on data and confidentiality.
HIV Outcomes Poland will focus on closing critical gaps in HIV surveillance system by strengthening collaboration between public health institutions and clinical centres and improving national data collection.
HIV Outcomes Netherlands will focus on building a sustainable collaborative ecosystem connecting community structures and healthcare systems, translating real-life experience into policy action.
What can you do?
Are you an interested activist or NGO active in one of the countries HIV Outcomes has a national initiative? You can get in touch at secretariat@hivoutcomes.eu. By connecting, you can help move the needle on improving long-term outcomes for people living with HIV in your country.