HIV infection is still a major threat to the health of people living in low-income countries.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), an estimated 36.9 [34.3–41.4] million people were living with HIV (PLWH) at the end of 2014, of whom 25.8 [24.0–28.7] million were in sub-Saharan Africa.
In the third decade of the pandemic, despite numerous interventions in the fight against HIV/AIDS by global health initiatives such as the Global Fund to Combat AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and the Joint United Nations Programme On HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the gap between low-income and high-income countries with reference to universal access to prevention, care and treatment is still huge.
The CASA project aims to contribute to the improvement of HIV/AIDS patient care through a holistic approach including training, operational research methods, and the active participation of patients’ associations.
In Italian, “CASA” means “HOME” – a word that fully represents the heart of the project: a home for all who wish to share CASA objectives and contribute to improving the quality of care of people. The CASA project approach could in the future be extended not only to HIV-infected patients but also to those with other diseases, such as non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
Many sub-Saharan countries are experiencing an epidemiological transition in which communicable diseases (CDs) coexist with emerging NCDs. Although CDs are still the prevalent health problem, chronic NCDs are becoming a principal challenge. This demands urgent policies to address the double burden of disease. HIV is a chronic infection that impacts life over time, requiring lifelong care, treatment, supply of medicines, and lab tests. The same applies to other chronic conditions, needing service access, trained health personnel, adherence support, infrastructure, drugs, equipment, and community involvement.
