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Quality Action Conference 2016! Berlin, 26-27 January

“Doing the right things right!”

The conference was the concluding event of Quality Action, the EU co-funded ‘Joint Action on Improving Quality in HIV Prevention’, involving 45 partner organisations from 26 Member States, and took place in Berlin, Germany on January 26 – 27th 2016.

The event provided the opportunity to take stock of the latest developments in improving quality in HIV prevention, and brought together representatives from governmental and non-governmental organisations to share their experiences in applying practical quality improvement tools. Acting Direction John Ryan from the European Commission, HIV prevention leader Prof Kevin Fenton from Public Health England and quality improvement expert Prof Michael Wright from the Catholic University of Applied Sciences Berlin provided key input to the discussion.

Further highlights of the conference were the launch of a new Charter for Quality in HIV Prevention as well as the presentation of the project’s Policy Kit with policy statements and strategic actions to support quality improvement in HIV prevention at the national and regional levels. Furthermore, the conference provided opportunities to learn more about the concepts and tools of Quality Action.

The audience comprised more than 100 participants from across Europe, reflecting one of Quality Action’s main achievements, the creation of a community of quality improvement practitioners. Strong links across 26 EU Member States were formed during the project’s three year period. The commitment to continuing to improve quality and to coordinated action and collaboration that was evident at the event is key for a sustainable impact and further development.

The conference agenda is available here.

Read the conference report here.

Download the speakers’ presentations:

Session 1: Quality Action products and results in the context of HIV prevention in Europe

Prof Kevin Fenton – Keynote address: HIV prevention – what have we achieved? What does the future hold?
Matthias Wentzlaff-Eggebert – From ‘what works and why’ to ‘doing the right things right’ – history, approach and project overview.

Session 2: Evaluation results and recommendations for HIV policy and programme development

Christiana Nöstlinger, Bea Vuylsteke – Successes and challenges of integrating quality improvement in HIV prevention: results of Quality Action’s mixed method evaluation.
John Ryan – The HIV/AIDS policy framework of the European Commission and the links to Quality Action.
Ursula von Rüden – Quality principles and criteria for HIV prevention – evidence and experience.

Session 3: Quality Improvement in HIV prevention practice

Viveca Urwitz – Tools for action: from theory and experience to practical quality instruments.
Deirdre Seery – The Quality Action approach to capacity building.
Carolin Vierneisel – Make it fit – results, enablers and barriers of applying quality improvement tools in practice.

Session 4: enablers and tools for sustainable quality improvement

Prof Michael Wright – Keynote address: Quality in HIV prevention – making participation a reality.
Cristina Chiotan – The Quality Action website and future communication channels.

Session 5: strategies for sustainability and outlook