Mi-Health HIV Partnership Wins 2 Awards!
Posted: 27th نوفمبر 2023
We are honoured and deeply grateful to have won the awards for both Impact and People’s Choice during the Gilead Community Awards 2023 on 8-9 November 2023 in Madrid, Spain. We were chosen by our colleagues from across Australia, Europe, and Canada working in the areas of HIV, liver diseases, and oncology.
The Impact category highlighted how we have achieved measurable social impact and positive change by engaging 2,402 key population migrants that others dismiss as “hard to reach” in HIV testing and care. Through our targeted HIV testing, we managed to collect detailed data that reveals the levels of disparities that migrants experience across the HIV continuum of care and the social determinants of health for migrants in precarious circumstances. We have leveraged these findings to advance health equity by engaging in data-driven advocacy, launching a position paper calling to include migrants more fully in universal healthcare, and presenting our work at three international conferences.
We are proud to have been recognised by independent judges from the Charities Aid Foundation for this award – it speaks to the collective power of our Partnership and demonstrates the need for a more coherent approach to addressing the HIV-related needs and health outcomes of migrants across Europe. The health of migrants is inherently a transboundary issue that requires involvement of those most impacted, and our Partnership is rooted in the belief that agile community-led and community-based networks that cross borders and unite diverse groups can advance solutions to the common concerns that impact key migrant populations.
The People’s Choice award was voted for by attendees at the event in Spain, who selected us from amongst 16 finalists across four award categories. We are deeply grateful to be recognised for our achievements, impact, and contribution to migrant communities across 10 European countries. Receiving this award from our peers is especially meaningful, as it acknowledges the challenges involved and the effort that it takes to successfully deliver culturally sensitive services for diverse and usually marginalised key migrant populations. It also demonstrates that empowered and resourced communities, armed with expertise, competencies and lived experiences, can lead on and have influence over their HIV-related health outcomes.
Our Mi-Health HIV Partnership said in a joint statement:
“We are thrilled to have won the Impact and People’s Choice awards for our work as the Mi-Health HIV Partnership. These awards represent the efforts of our Partnership, working in 10 diverse communities across Europe as a strong and collaborative network, to reduce the barriers that migrants and other marginalised groups face in accessing HIV and other health services. We are grateful to Gilead for their continued support, commitment to health equity, and for giving us this opportunity to collaborate in a first-of-its-kind network, leverage the expertise of community-led organisations, and to address the common challenges facing migrants in Europe.”
Judges noted the multi-pronged approach of our Mi-Health HIV Partnership to addressing the issues facing migrants at risk of or living with HIV, the development of relationships with local organisations across the European region, and the collection of both outcome and programme monitoring data from the very start of our work.
To find out more about our Mi-Health HIV Partnership and Gilead Science’s Zeroing In Fund, please see below:
Gilead Sciences:
Mi-Health HIV Partnership:
Partnership members:
- Africa Advocacy Foundation (AAF, England, lead organisation)
- Afrikaherz (Germany)
- The AIDS Solidarity Movement (Cyprus)
- Association PASTT (France)
- LHIVE Diritti e Prevenzione (Italy)
- Noaks Ark Mosaik (Sweden)
- فتح مسارات أثينا (Greece)
- Plateforme Prevention SIDA (Belgium)
- Portuguese Foundation “A Community Against AIDS” (FPCCSida, Portugal)
- Stichting African Foundation Against AIDS (Stichting AFAA, Netherlands)