HIV & Mental Health

Why?

One of the main outcomes of the Ageing with HIV Project of the EATG was the identification of mental health as a key neglected area, and its importance for the quality of life for people living with HIV. This finding is also supported by scientific evidence, which suggests that mental health problems are one of the most significant areas of co-morbidity for people living with HIV worldwide and are more prevalent among people living with HIV than the general population.

What?

The HIV and Mental Health project aims to explore the existing knowledge about the interplay of mental health, well-being and HIV and translate it into practical recommendations for both community organisations and healthcare professionals in the European context. The recommendations will advise on how to develop a supportive and integrated framework within the HIV care setting, which provides people living with HIV with access to prevention, screening, treatment and care for mental health problems. This framework will take into consideration the specific needs of vulnerable populations and address the issue of substance use. A European network bringing together the different stakeholders in the field of mental health and HIV is formed and a platform for them to interact will be established.

With whom?

The project is mainly addressed to: 1) community, people living with HIV as well as persons working in community HIV organisations at the local, regional or international level in the European context and 2) healthcare professionals who provide prevention, treatment and care services for people living with HIV. Other key stakeholders are national/EU-level decision-makers and agencies in the health sector and international organisations working in the mental health field. Researchers/academia and industry working in HIV field will also be closely linked to during the project.

How?

The main activities of the project are:

• Literature review on HIV and mental health.
• Survey on community perspective on the role of mental health in HIV prevention, treatment adherence, quality of life and retention in care.
• Workshop to define recommendations for practical interventions in community and healthcare settings to improve access to and quality of HIV prevention, treatment and care services for people living with HIV who face mental health problems.
• Multi-stakeholder event to present findings and recommendations to community, healthcare sector, policy, industry, research and international organisations.
• Development of a briefing paper on mental health and promising approaches.
• Dialogue with EACS on better integration of the mental health dimension in the HIV guidelines.
• Meeting bringing together members of community and representatives of industry partners about mental health related endpoints in research and drug development.
• Dissemination of information via website and social media, webinars, publications, translated materials.
• Creating a European Platform to allow continuous and sustainable collaboration and experience exchange of the stakeholders involved in the project beyond the project duration.
• Development of concept for a reoccurring bi-annual European conference on interplay of mental health, well-being and HIV.

For what outcome?

The expected specific outcomes of the project are:

• Awareness on the interplay of mental health, well-being and HIV is created among community organizations, healthcare professionals and other stakeholders in the HIV field at the European level through broad dissemination of the knowledge generated though this project.
• European stakeholders from community, healthcare sector, policy, industry, research and international organisations are considering the interplay of mental health, well-being and HIV in their respective areas of work, based on the findings and recommendations of the project.