2026

HIV Outcomes Poland continued building its evidence base by commissioning three expert analyses on the completeness and quality of national epidemiological data (Marta Niedźwiedzka-Stadnik, PhD, NIZP-PZH), linkage to and retention in care (Justyna Kopeć, Piotr Pietrzyk), and the legal barriers faced by people living with HIV (Paweł Wuwer, legal counsel). As part of the linkage work, the project carried out its own survey at fourteen testing sites and five treatment sites across fifteen European countries and Ukraine, complemented by an analysis of the ADHARA peer-support model operating in Seville. Data were gathered in parallel from Polish voluntary counselling and testing centres, in order to set national practice against European practice.

HIV Outcomes Poland convened the first national multi-stakeholder expert meeting on HIV data, care pathways and legal barriers at the National Institute of Public Health in April 2026. Bringing together clinicians, epidemiologists, public authorities, civil society organisations and legal experts, the meeting identified major gaps in surveillance data, persistent challenges in linkage to care and treatment access, and key priorities for reform, including reimbursement of HIV testing in emergency departments, improvements to notification systems, and better access to care for uninsured individuals.

In June 2026, thanks to HIV Outcomes Poland continued advocacy, the Parliamentary Group on HIV Prevention and AIDS Response was reconvened. Th findings of April’s expert meeting presented as the substantive entry point for the Group's renewed agenda and reopening a formal avenue for discussing HIV policy with parliamentarians.

Further, HIV Outcomes Poland engaged with two live legislative processes. The first is the UD250 draft law, which in the form set out in parliamentary print no. 2475 was passed by the Sejm and forwarded to the Senate, providing for the funding of services for uninsured persons from the state budget. The second is the amendment to the Act on Combating Infections and Infectious Diseases, which opens a genuine window for revising the notification forms. In the medium term, the project is pursuing reform of Article 161 of the Penal Code and of the provisions restricting the employment of people living with HIV in the uniformed services.