CORE – Community Response to End Inequalities

Why?

The European Union and its Member States have made progress towards reaching the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal ‘To ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’, and its specific target of ending HIV/AIDS, TB and other communicable diseases. However, significant differences and inequalities that prevent further progress towards these targets still exist within the EU, namely between and within countries. Europe is facing concentrated epidemics, and some communities still lack adequate access to prevention, treatment and care services. Evidence and practice have shown that communities facing intersecting challenges benefit from person centred and integrated community-led and based health services and yet these are not available at all in some locations or at the scale needed.

What?

Project CORE – “Community Response to End Inequalities” aims to reduce these inequalities by promoting, strengthening and integrating the community responses that have proven key in bringing services closer to persons who would benefit most but face inadequate access, in particular in countries where these responses are still lacking. CORE provides support to community-based organisations implementing new services or expanding existing ones.

With whom?

The project is led by AIDS Action Europe/DAH. It leads a consortium of 11 Work Package Leaders – responsible for the coordination and timelines of their respective Work Packages, 14 implementing partners, and three regional networks representing some of the Key Populations – sex workers, migrants and harm reduction services.

• Work Package Leaders: AIDS Action Europe/Deutsche Aidshilfe, LILA Milano, GAT, European AIDS Treatment Group and Czech AIDS Help Society, and Co-Leaders – Rights Reporter Foundation, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, CEEISCAT – Center for Epidemiological Studies on HIV/AIDS and STI of Catalonia.
• Implementing partners: Health without Borders (Bulgaria), AIDS Solidarity Movement (Cyprus), Fédération Parapluie Rouge (France), Via Berlin (Germany), Positive Voice (Greece), Praksis (Greece), Hatter Society (Hungary), FES – Foundation for Social Education (Poland), ARAS – Romanian Association Against AIDS (Romania), Carusel (Romania), Odyseus (Slovakia), Legebitra (Slovenia), and NoaksArk Mozaik (Sweden).
• Regional networks: European Sex Workers´ Rights Alliance, CEEISCAT – Center for Epidemiological Studies on HIV/AIDS and STI of Catalonia, Africa Advocacy Foundation and Correlation – European Harm Reduction Network.

How?

To strengthen community responses, CORE will use capacity building, networking, and the exchange of good practice and innovative approaches, including for data monitoring and reporting. To ensure ownership and stakeholders’ interest in implementing and sustaining these interventions, it will proactively reach out and engage relevant stakeholders. To promote integration of these approaches into disease prevention and health promotion strategies and systems, it will address legal, policy, and structural issues. It will build on and intensify collaboration of regional networks and national and local organisations of people living with HIV, key populations, and service provider organisations. It will use, adapt, and disseminate existing national, regional, and global good practice approaches and tools from across key populations and disease areas, and provide platforms for exchange.

For what outcome? 

CORE will focus on expanding, strengthening, integrating and sustaining community initiatives so they can work with communities left behind in national responses.

EATG contact person(s):	Annisabelle von Lingen – annisabelle.vonlingen@eatg.org Chiara Longhi – chiara.longhi@eatg.org
Duration of the project/initiative:	2023 – 2025
Project/Initiative Leader:	AIDS Action Europe
Budget:	n/a
Main Funding Sources:	Co-funded by the Health Programme of the European Union
Links:	https://core-action.eu
Communication Disclaimer:	Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. The CORE project has received funding from the Health Programme of the European Union under grant agreement No 101080079.