The Robert Koch Institute (RKI): main building in Berlin. more
Germany’s Public Health institute RKI monitors the population’s health and wellbeing. more
The Robert Koch Institute is the German government's central institution for the identification, surveillance and prevention of infectious diseases in the Portfolio of the German Ministry of Health. more
Scaling up monitoring, control and elimination of HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis in WHO European Region
Duration: 2023 - 2025
Partner countries: Countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Western Balkans within the WHO European Region
Partner institution:
Involved RKI unit: Unit 24, Unit 34
Despite important progress in therapy and prevention, HIV and viral hepatitis are still a major health threat in the WHO European Region. In response, the World Health Organization (WHO) has released action plans with specific targets to eliminate and control these diseases, which are being translated into national programs by each country. However, several targets are yet to be reached and there is an ongoing need to collect strategic information for the monitoring of process and impact indicators in order to scale up surveillance, control and elimination efforts.
Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in capacity of the WHO Collaborating Centre (WHO CC) for viral hepatitis and HIV continues to work jointly with WHO in expanding viral hepatitis B and C and HIV monitoring, control and elimination through technical support in WHO Member States in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Western Balkans. The WHO CC collaborates with various governmental and non-governmental stakeholders to support the conduction of studies, support data collection on the burden of disease, and design of recommendations for effective policies to ultimately facilitate HIV and viral hepatitis prevention and control, particularly in vulnerable groups.
Overall project goal is facilitating the surveillance, monitoring, control, and elimination of viral hepatitis B, C, and HIV/AIDS in countries of the WHO European Region.
Based on results in the GHPP phase I project COVIMPACT Hepatitis, WHO has requested RKI as WHO CC to explore possibility to expand this activity for countries of WHO European Region preparing for HIV programme review and continue with hepatitis activities.
Within the COVIMPACT Hepatitis project, a need for dedicated technical support for Kyrgyzstan in implementation of the newly developed viral hepatitis and HIV programme for years 2022-2026 was identified.
Furthermore, gaps in burden of disease estimates for viral hepatitis were revealed in numerous WHO European Region countries. Therefore, RKI in close collaboration with WHO and participating countries will provide technical support to generate these estimates. Additionally, within this project, preparatory work for design and implementation of behavioural studies in the region will be started to additionally scale up use of existing prevention and treatment opportunities among key populations.
Date: 02.06.2023
