A decade of progress: the Workshop Aging in HIV celebrates Its 10th edition in Barcelona

Barcelona hosted the 10th edition of the Workshop Comprehensive Management of Aging in HIV, an event organised by ScienHub Education, the platform that drives the training activities of the Foundation. This milestone marks a turning point in research and care for ageing in people living with HIV.

For ten years, this space has been key to fostering innovation, scientific debate and international collaboration, and this special edition aimed to commemorate it with an exceptional scientific programme and activities dedicated to celebrating the anniversary.

The event, coordinated by Dr Eugènia Negredo, head of the HIV line at the Foundation, Dr Bonaventura Clotet, president of the Foundation, and Dr Pedro Cahn, president of Fundación Huésped, brought together global leaders, healthcare professionals, researchers and community organisations to address the multifactorial challenges of ageing in people living with HIV.

What Were the Key Topics?

• Biomarkers and prediction of ageing in people with HIV – with Paddy Mallon and Agustín Nava.
• Current and emerging clinical interventions – with Josep Ferrer Arbaizar, Esteban José Martínez Chamorro, Priscilla Hsue and Marta Boffito.
• Pharmaceutical innovation and challenges – with Ana Milinkovic, Cristina De Alvaro and Emiliano Bissio.
• Special populations and emerging issues – with Àngel Rivero Calaf and Carolina Garcia-Vidal.

The opening lecture by Dr Matteo Cesari offered a forward-looking perspective on healthy ageing, setting the tone for an enriching debate.

Space for Innovation

To commemorate this special edition, the congress launched a call for innovative projects under the theme: “Community interventions to improve quality of life”. The goal was to identify and support community solutions with a tangible impact on the lives of people aged 50 and over living with HIV.

During the session, attendees voted among the three shortlisted projects, and the project with the most support received a €3,000 grant to facilitate its implementation.

The winning project was “Driven Frailty Risk Prediction in Older Kenyans with HIV in Western Kenya”, presented by the South Rift Valley HIV Technical Working Group.

The main objective of the project is to develop an artificial intelligence-based model to predict frailty risk in Kenyan people over 50 living with HIV. Using electronic health data and patient-reported outcomes, the project enables early identification of high-risk patients and the development of personalised interventions to improve their quality of life and clinical outcomes.

Community Engagement

The workshop also featured a roundtable with NGOs such as GAIS POSITIUS, Apoyo Positivo, Terrence Higgins Trust, The Food Chain and The Love Tank, reinforcing the importance of social and community interventions in healthy ageing.

This event was made possible thanks to the support of sponsors, especially ViiV Healthcare, which continues to drive research and innovation in this field.

See you next year in Argentina, hosted by Fundación Huésped!