WAVE Working Committees

To actively promote the welfare of women living with HIV in Europe, we work in thematic committees that each WAVE member can join, according to his/her areas of interest. Based on a draft agenda prepared by the supervisors, each committee defines its way of acting and communicating. If you are interested in being a respondent of the survey or a participant in the panel(s), please contact WaveSecretariat@eacsociety.org

The main activities of the  working committees are:

• Developing WAVE led research (e.g. literature review, data analysis)
• Preparing endorsement letters for external activities or other forms of promotion for research which are in line with WAVE mission and philosophy 
• Organising medical experience exchange (Peer-to-Peer programme, complementary to other EACS medical exchange programmes)
• Organising a thematic workshop
• Designing a survey and collecting data  

 Committees: 

-> BREASTFEEDING AND PREGNANCY

Supervisors: Karoline Aebi-Popp, Annette Haberl, Mariana Mardarescu

The Israeli National Hansen Center asked WAVE to help promoting the cause of universal antenatal HIV testing in Israel. A letter of support has been issued.

Read the letter of support

The breastfeeding article was published in Lancet HIV online:

Read the article

-> MENOPAUSE AND AGEING

Supervisor: Nina Weis

-> HIV TESTING AND COMBINATION PREVENTION

Supervisors: Yvonne Gilleece, Ben Collins, Maria Jesús Pérez Elías

WAVE survey on PrEP and women - summary

WAVE letter on women in European Region published in ECDC Eurosurveillance 

The Journal of Virus Eradication published an article on the WAVE's survey on PrEP in women

-> CO-INFECTIONS AND CO-MORBIDITIES

Supervisors: Umbelina Caixas, Teresa Branco  

A literature review on Co-infections and Co-morbidities is being prepared. The work progress is presented by Sonia Ganai. 

Presentation

Participate in the WAVE survey

WAVE aims to have a better understanding of current practice across Europe in screening and managing co-morbidities and menopause in women living with HIV.

As part of this work, WAVE is inviting clinicians who provide care for adults living with HIV to complete an anonymous survey and share it with their colleagues through their network.

Click here to fill in the survey

The questionnaire has been created by Umbelina Caixas (Portugal), Hilary Curtis (UK), Deniz Goekengin (Turkey), Gordana Dragovic (Serbia), Anna Hachfeld (Switzerland), Panagiota Lourida (Greece), Nneka Nwokolo (UK), Shema Tariq (UK) and contains input from the Ukrainian ID MDs.

The results of the survey will be presented to the EACS Guidelines panels and written up for publication.

-> WAVE in Ukraine

WAVE has been invited by the clinic of the Gromashevsky Institute of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases, Academy of Medical Science of Ukraine to organise a workshop on topics related to women living with HIV.

Educational support of Ukrainian healthcare professionals on these aspects of HIV care is extremely necessary and important, as local resources are very limited. WAVE can significantly contribute to improving quality of care for women living with HIV in Ukraine.

Ukraine has the second-largest HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and the estimated number of people living with HIV in Ukraine is 200 000. As of January 1, 2019, more than 100 000 people living with HIV are receiving ART in Ukraine, 47% of whom were women. In addition women account for 40% of those newly diagnosed with HIV in Ukraine in 2018, the majority of whom are "late presenters" with a CD4 T-cell count below 350 and many AIDS defining illnesses. Vertical transmission of HIV remains another important issue, as although it has been reducing nationwide, it is still suboptimal at 2% in 2018.

The WAVE workshop in Kiev in 2019 received excellent feedback both in terms of content and practical measures to improve HIV care in women in Ukraine. Thus WAVE will continue to provide this workshop on an annual basis to facilitate updates on HIV care in women for healthcare professionals in Ukraine.

WAVE in Ukraine Online Workshop 2021

WAVE in Ukraine Online Workshop 2020

WAVE Workshop - Kyiv, Ukraine