The Elton John AIDS Foundation is thrilled to announce a five-year extension of our RADIAN partnership with Gilead Sciences to continue addressing the HIV crisis in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA). This partnership, initially launched in 2019, will now extend through 2028 with an additional $25 million investment.
A Renewed Commitment to Fighting HIV
Despite global declines in HIV cases, the EECA region is experiencing a worsening epidemic, with new HIV diagnoses and AIDS-related deaths increasing significantly over the past decade. Of the 2.1 million people in EECA living with HIV, 41% are not aware of their HIV status and 50% are not on treatment – way below global 95-95-95-95 targets.
“We are committed to ensuring that the EECA region is not left behind because ending the HIV epidemic means ending it for everyone, everywhere,” said Daniel O’Day, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Gilead Sciences. “During a recent visit to Kazakhstan, I met with RADIAN-supported community leaders who emphasized the importance of doubling down on our collaborative efforts. Over the next five years, RADIAN 2.0 will continue to address the structural drivers of the epidemic, strengthen HIV health systems, and enhance the capacities of local organizations for lasting impact.”
Through this $25 million extension, RADIAN will continue to build on the successes and learnings from the first five years of the partnership to close gaps in the HIV testing, prevention, and care.
RADIAN’s First Five Years of Impact
Since RADIAN was launched in 2019 it has had a significant impact on the HIV response in the region. Together, we have:
- Reached over 271,000 people with HIV services
- Provided over 114,000 HIV tests
- (Re-)initiated over 26,500 people on antiretroviral therapy
- Trained more than 14,000 frontline workers to reduce stigma and discrimination
However, the HIV crisis in EECA has escalated dramatically in recent years: the ongoing conflict in Ukraine coupled with a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and a crackdown on civil society are all greatly hindering the HIV response across the region.
How RADIAN is Expanding its Reach and Impact
Over the next five years, RADIAN will extend its efforts to support collaborative, community-based initiatives to meet the needs of the most vulnerable key populations across EECA, including people who use drugs, men who have sex with men, sex workers, and transgender people.
RADIAN will also expand its geographic reach to include countries hosting refugees fleeing Ukraine, including Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Germany, where there is an acute need for additional HIV services. Language barriers, social isolation, and internalized stigma are often preventing refugees living with or at risk of HIV from accessing the treatment and care they urgently need. RADIAN’s geographic expansion will provide more support to these vulnerable communities, improving access to life-saving HIV services and supporting their mental and social well-being.
Innovative Approaches and Continued Success
To further enhance its impact, RADIAN will introduce an ‘Innovation Fund’ to support creative solutions that improve the HIV response in EECA. This fund will accept applications on a rolling basis, providing flexible funding opportunities for emerging innovations.
“At the Elton John AIDS Foundation, we have a long history of supporting people living with or at risk of HIV across Eastern Europe and Central Asia – a region too often overlooked in the global HIV response. Because of insufficient access to HIV testing and effective treatment, 384 people newly acquire HIV every day in EECA and 120 people die of AIDS-related causes,” said Anne Aslett, CEO of the Elton John AIDS Foundation. “We are incredibly proud of our RADIAN partnership, with Gilead Sciences, which is genuinely helping to turn the tide on the HIV epidemic in the region. Over the next few years, RADIAN will continue to meet the needs of people most affected by HIV in EECA through innovative, scalable solutions and we are incredibly grateful to our resilient and determined local partners who share our ambition of leaving nobody behind.”
Changemakers Leading the Way
RADIAN Changemakers are at the forefront of tackling the HIV epidemic in the region and are making an extraordinary difference in their local communities.
Meet Olga
After finding out about her HIV status while trying for a child and struggling to accept her diagnosis, Olga realised the power in sharing her experience and supporting other people, particularly women, going through the same thing. She now works for Positive Women, an organisation representing the interests of women living with HIV, advocating for gender issues and working on the elimination of mother-to-child HIV transmission on coordination councils for HIV and AIDS in Ukraine.
Your life is worth living, worth working for, worth fighting for.
Because of her own experiences, Olga goes the extra mile through her work to ensure doctors are educated on how to treat people living with HIV because they are there to treat everyone, including people living with HIV.
Beyond the HIV services that RADIAN-supported programmes are able to deliver to the community on a regular basis, funding from the partnership means that organisations like Positive Women have been able to provide humanitarian services for women living with HIV and their children, particularly important given the war in Ukraine.
To learn more about RADIAN and other Changemakers in the region, visit radianhiv.org.
