HIV Outcomes Romania co-launched the Bucharest HIV Manifesto: Living with HIV in Health, Dignity and Equity – 40 Years Since the Start of the HIV Epidemic in Romania, and continued to reshape national HIV policy, working alongside community representative UNOPA and the Chair of the Senate Healthcare Committee to alter social policies on improving quality of life of people living with HIV.

We co-authored advocacy papers with the Ministry of Health HIV Monitoring Council on U=U and community engagement, and submitting legislative amendments to the Senate to enshrine HRQoL, ageing with HIV, stigma reduction, and a National HIV Awareness Day.

We’re engaging with over 1,650 family doctors nationwide to promote the importance of integrated care for people living with HIV, and further strengthened partnerships and outreach by launching quarterly newsletters.

We promoted the results of our Quality of Life Study across the National Conference on Infectious Diseases at the Romanian Parliament, HIV & Women 2024 in Washington, and presentations at the 2025 HIV & Women International Conference.

HIV Outcomes Romania strengthened our policy influence by co-organising World AIDS Day 2024 in Bucharest with UNOPA and national key opinion leaders, launching joint calls to action with the National Society of Infectious Diseases and HIV/AIDS, on HIV Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U), stigma reduction, comorbidities management, and prevention of vertical transmission, while also advocating for dedicated HIV budget allocations through letters and consultations with the Ministry of Health and Parliament.

We launched a national Quality of Life study with 1,050 participants at the Romanian Senate, publishing our Policy Recommendations, and presenting findings at major international forums including EACS 2023 in Warsaw, World AIDS Day in the European Parliament, and several other scientific conferences.

We were covered in Viața Medicală (Medical Life), engaged with the Ministry of Health and Parliament on social security reform, tailored European HIV Outcomes Policy Asks to Romania, and promoted the use of PROMs and best practices in HIV care.

We also pushed for the urgent implementation of the Romanian National HIV Strategy 2022-2030, organised World AIDS Day Bucharest 2023 and issued joint calls to action and advocacy letters supported by NGOs, clinicians, and over 70 experts.

HIV Outcomes Romania helped shape national health policy by ensuring the inclusion of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in the Romanian HIV Strategy 2022–2030 and the National Healthcare Strategy 2022-2030, backed by strong advocacy tools such as joint declarations, a joint call to action with over 70 HIV experts, and letters to decision-makers- presented at an event in the Romanian Senate: “HIV Infection – Where to?”

The initiative advanced the evidence base by launching a national study on the quality of life of people living with HIV (1,050 questionnaires) with the National Institute for Communicable Diseases Prof Dr Matei Bals and national HIV care network, and by producing three videos and insights on pressing issues for Romanian and European policies, including the needs of Ukrainian refugees.

HIV Outcomes Romania held a virtual high-level policy event on Improving the well‑being and quality of life of people living with HIV by combating stigma and discrimination, bringing together the Romanian government, parliament and EU presidency, patients, the HIV community, healthcare networks, researchers and industry. We also held a roundtable to boost the role of people living with HIV in shaping national policy, Nothing about us, without us – Delivering health-related quality of life for people living with HIV.

We expanded our Steering Group with 5 new members including clinicians, community members and an NGO, strengthening representation across regions and partners.

With the breakout of the COVID pandemic, we exchanged with Romanian officials on the impact of COVID-19 on the quality of life and health for people living with HIV. These informed exchanges with government and political stakeholders, on accessing specific HIV treatment and managing comorbidities.

We kept up the momentum for greater action and long-term measures to tackle HIV.

HIV Outcomes Romania formally launched in January 2019 and we approved our inaugural national Work Plan, with its newly established Romanian Steering Group, bringing together

• national leaders in HIV research and medical care

• community representatives

• NGOs

• industry

We translated HIV Outcomes recommendations into Romanian, laying the groundwork for the national advocacy.