THE CHALLENGES OF HIV

In 2021, SIC Notícias, SIC, SIC Mulher, Expresso and the main HIV patient associations created a brand-new concept, an “HIV Advisory Board”, with the support of ViiV Healthcare. A structure designed to address and monitor, on a quarterly and long-term basis, what the main political, medical and social priorities in this area should be.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health literacy as “a series of cognitive and social skills which determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to, understand and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health (WHO, 1998)”. This involves an individual´s ability to make informed health-related decisions in their daily lives throughout their lives: at home, in the community, in the workplace, at the market, both when using the health system and in the political context. It also makes it possible to increase people’s control over their health, their ability to procure information and to undertake responsibilities.

This project aims to do just that, to be a proactive driver of literacy, to give muscle and visibility to improving the conditions of those living and working with HIV in Portugal, involving patients, decision-makers and different stakeholders in the process of analysis and the search for solutions.