The REACH Project

Russian European Alliance for research among women, Children and adolescents impacted by HIV, TB and HCV

REACH was a collaborative effort to fill the knowledge and data gaps on the HIV epidemic affecting children, adolescents and pregnant women across Russia. It  provided new data on long-term antiretroviral therapy toxicity, HIV resistance, Hepatitis C virus and Tuberculosis coinfections and comorbidities in this setting.

The REACH Project

Russian European Alliance for research among women, Children and adolescents impacted by HIV, TB and HCV

REACH is a collaborative effort to fill the knowledge and data gaps on the HIV epidemic affecting children, adolescents and pregnant women across Russia. It hopes to provide new data on long-term antiretroviral therapy toxicity, HIV resistance, Hepatitis C virus and Tuberculosis coinfections and comorbidities in this setting.

Background

Pregnant women, children and adolescents are priority populations in the global public health response to the epidemics of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis (TB) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). The intersecting epidemics for these three infections are particularly marked in Eastern Europe and present major public health and societal challenges.

The REACH alliance explored the use of new diagnostics and preventive TB treatment, as well as the use of novel direct acting antivirals for HCV in children in real-world setting. In addition, REACH  promoted the geographic expansion of collaborative research in maternal and child health in Europe with a broad and long-lasting impact. Moreover, it invested in and enabled future research partnerships through Russian and European harmonization of research instruments and methodologies, knowledge sharing, multi-media training and delivery of collaborative protocols for future studies.

REACH ensured the voices of patients were central to the project at all levels. Therefore, the two Youth Advisory Boards (YABs) were an integral part of REACH. They involved young people aged between 15-19 and included those affected by HIV, TB and/or HCV. The YAB members were engaged across REACH, with a focus on creating patient and public friendly information on the project and its findings.

The REACH Network in Europe

The REACH project built on long-standing, successful collaborations between experts in paediatric and maternal HIV, TB and HCV from the Russian Federation and other European countries. The REACH consortium brought together established clinical research networks with track records of delivering innovative research on HIV, TB and HCV in children, adolescents and pregnant women. These included the long-standing Penta Network, incorporated the European Pregnancy and Paediatric HIV Cohort Collaboration (EPPICC) and PENTAHep, alongside the Pediatric Tuberculosis Network European Trials group (pTBnet).