CORE - Community Response to End Inequalities

The European Union and its Member States have made substantial progress towards reaching the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 3 ‘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 MSs, and between and within the affected communities.

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 reaching those “hard to reach” by mainstream prevention and

healthcare services, especially in MSs where these responses are still lacking.

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.

CORE will focus on expanding, strengthening, and sustaining community initiatives so they are able to work with communities left behind in national responses. It will integrate and harmonise community responses to respond, in particular to the needs of people with multiple vulnerabilities.