Public health: prevention of AIDS and other communicable diseases, Community action programme 1996-2000

- OBJECTIVE: adoption of a Community action programme on the prevention of AIDS and certain other communicable diseases. - COMMUNITY MEASURE: European Parliament and Council Decision 647/96/EC adopting a Community action programme on the prevention of AIDS and certain other communicable diseases within the framework for action in the field of public health (1996-2000). - SUBSTANCE: . Duration and objectives: the programme is adopted for a five-year period (1 January 1996 - 31 December 2000) and aims to contribute to reducing the spread of AIDS and mortality and morbidity resulting from communicable diseases by encouraging cooperation between Member States, promoting coordination of prevention policies and programmes and supporting the work of the NGOs, including the associations for HIV sufferers. . International cooperation: the programme is open to the associated countries in Eastern Europe, Cyprus and Malta. In implementing it, cooperation with the WHO, the Council of Europe and NGOs active in this field in encouraged. . Coherence and complementarity: the programme is to be implemented in coherence and complementarity with other relevant Community measures and programmes (research programmes in the area of biomedicine and Community action in the developing countries). . Budget: it is provided with a budget of ECU 49.6 million for the period in question. . Implementation: the Commission is responsible for implementing the plan with the help of a committee made up of representatives of the Member States, whose role is a mixed one depending on the area in question (advisory and management). . Monitoring and assessment: the Commission will assess the measures carried out. It will submit to the EP, the Council, the ESC and the Committee of the Regions mid-term and final evaluation reports. . Measures to be implemented: measures which can be funded under the action plan are listed in an annex: - action A: surveillance and monitoring of communicable diseases: improvement of the quality of data on AIDS and related diseases and support for the European Centre for the Epidemiological Monitoring of AIDS, improving the quality of epidemiological monitoring systems in the Member States, setting up a Community network of epidemiologists with a view to defining common surveillance tools, production of information notes on the monitoring of communicable diseases on a European scale, improving awareness of the importance of nosocomial diseases and the resistance of certain diseases to antibiotics, promotion of research on the feasibility of large-scale screening for certain diseases (tuberculosis, the various forms of hepatitis); - action B: combating transmission: coordination of studies relating to persons with high-risk behaviour (drug use, prostitution, high-risk sexual relations) or in special situations (travel, prison) and, particularly, promotion of measures aimed at reducing the risks, including the effective use of condoms, exchange of experiences on the epidemiological assistance to be given to pregnant women with AIDS, dissemination to the general public of messages regarding AIDS prevention, exchanges of information between Member States about their vaccination policies and programmes; - action C: information, education and training: information campaigns on the communicable diseases and their prevention (including by telephone and other answering devices), collection and analysis of information on prevention measures and assessment of their efficacy, promotion of initiatives aimed at testing the state of awareness, attitudes and behaviour of the general public with regard to AIDS (including children and young people) and implementation of preventive measures (particularly, dissemination of information in schools, training centres and sports clubs), promotion of information campaigns carried out in the Member States on the effective use of condoms and Eurobarometer surveys of the way in which behaviour has changed as a result of the disease, promotion of initiatives aimed at migrants, studies on the training of health professionals (including people who can act at the social level) and introduction of further training possibilities, support for training of health professionals (in the context, inter alia, of early detection of the disease); - action D: assistance for HIV/AIDS sufferers and measures to combat discrimination: exchanges of information regarding ways of supporting HIV-positive patients and their families, production of information bulletins and directories of bodies which provide assistance (networks of psycho-social associations), analysis of discriminatory situations and exchange of information on the best means of combating such discrimination. ENTRY INTO FORCE: 20 March 1996. �